Retirement doesn’t always mean a clean break, especially when your legacy has a punchline attached to it. Just weeks into his new role as an assistant basketball coach at Campbell Hall High School in Studio City, California, Chris Paul found himself on the receiving end of a taunt that has followed him for most of his career. During a recent coaching session, an attendee approached him, sarcastically extending a ring pop, the candy, as a mock “first ring.”

“Yo Chris, Chris! I got you a gift, first ring. I want to get your first ring, Bucko,” the attendee shouted while trying to hand Paul the ring, continuing to taunt the former NBA star.

Paul, however, refused to take the bait.

Rather than confronting the individual, the veteran calmly looked around before smiling and replying, “I’m trying to see where the video camera is.”

In the meantime, the fellow members of the coaching staff intervened, asking the attendee to leave the area.

As the individual walked away, he delivered one final jab. 

“You sold 2-0, come on. Hey, I got you your first ring. Be happy, come on, Chris.”

The person was pointing to the 2021 NBA Finals – the closest Paul ever came to a championship. The Phoenix Suns had built a 2-0 series lead over the Milwaukee Bucks before losing four straight. What eventually happened now remains one of the most cited moments in the ring debate that has followed Paul throughout his playing career and, of course, beyond it.

Moreover, this incident occurred at a significant point in Chris Paul’s career, since his path to the Campbell Hall sideline came after an unceremonious end to a 21-year NBA career.

After returning to the Clippers for what he confirmed would be his final season, he was traded to and then waived by the Toronto Raptors in February 2026. Shortly after, he announced he would join Campbell Hall’s coaching staff as an assistant, where his son, Chris Paul II, plays high school ball.

Head coach Brian Clifford called it “a pretty decent hire” on Instagram, adding: “Excited to have the Point God rocking with us!” 

Clearly, though, not everyone agrees.

That said, while the ring pop incident was new in setting, it was still familiar in spirit. On The Pivot Podcast, Paul revealed the trolling had reached his daughter: “She had a little boy at school that said some reckless stuff to her was like, ‘Your daddy ain’t never gon’ win no championship.'”

Paul then addressed it all on The Old Man and the Three with JJ Redick in 2022: “Some years ago, if you’d asked me that, like while you were talking, like my stomach would have started getting tight or something like that, but I’m so at peace. Like for real, but what when I say that, ‘Man, I’m gonna fight my ass off to win this championship this year, the next year, whenever it may be. I am not like, ‘Oh man, I’m gonna just die.'”

He also added that he was sure some champions would “love to flip places” with him, a line that has aged into something more complicated now that the playing days are done.