Thunder Don't Believe They'll Be Able to Trade Chris Paul at Deadline

When Chris Paul was traded from the Houston Rockets to the Oklahoma City Thunder, along with a ton of draft picks in exchange for Russell Westbrook this past offseason, the expectation was general manager Sam Presti would find a way to offload his monstrous contract at some point down the road.

That plan has gone straight to the trash, as it's being reported the Thunder don't think they have any shot of offloading Paul to a new team before the deadline.

There's no denying Paul's contributions to an otherwise-young Thunder squad, both in terms of his play on the court and his leadership in the locker room. Not only is he averaging 15.6 points and 6.3 assists per game, but the 34-year-old is also serving as a mentor to the likes of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Hamidou Diallo as they continue to develop.

However, that massive contract of his really serves as the elephant in the room for the Thunder. This year, he's making $38 million; in his age-35 and 36 seasons, he'll be earning $41 million and $44 million, respectively.

He's currently making as much as Russell Westbrook, with both players tied for the second-most expensive contracts in the entirety of the NBA. There aren't too many teams with the cap space to stomach that type of money at this point of the season.

The Thunder essentially sacrificed cap space for a couple of draft picks and an average year from Paul, and they'll most likely be stuck with him, at least for the rest of the year before they can even think about trying to move him and his mammoth contract.