Chris Paul Doesn’t Rule Out Playing With LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony And Dwyane Wade

The friendship between four particular NBA players, one of whom happens to be LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers, is a close one. So close, in fact, that the quartet has occasionally spoken about the possibility of one day playing on the same team together.

Besides James and Dwyane Wade, who played together for four seasons with the Miami Heat, the duo of the New York Knicks’ Carmelo Anthony and the Los Angeles Clippers’ Chris Paul round out foursome.

Wade was a free agent this past offseason and ended up signing with the Chicago Bulls, with Paul next up on the free agent docket in July. The Clippers guard didn’t rule out the possibility of playing together with his friends when speaking with Jesse Williams and Stefan Marolachakis on their Open Run podcast. However, he noted that a number of factors would have to come together to make it possible.

“Anything’s possible. Definitely, anything’s possible,” Paul said. “You think about the feel. Obviously, basketball is a huge part of it. I even think about with the trade that brought me here to L.A. That whole process opened my eyes. There were a few places, I just didn’t want to live there. Believe it or not, my wife actually has input in this decision. Seriously, there’s a conversation we have about our kids. Basketball is a huge part of it, but it’s also about the way of life and how it’s going to be for my kids.”

James has already spoken in the past of his desire to make it happen before his career comes to an end.

“I really hope that, before our career is over, we can all play together,” James said. “At least one, maybe one or two seasons-me, Melo, D-Wade, CP-we can get a year in. I would actually take a pay cut to do that.”

Paul noted that the friends will sometimes get together to work out or play hoops.

“We’ll work out together and stuff like that sometimes,” Paul said. “The last time (we played together) was 2008, some time around the Olympics. D-Wade was coming off his injury. He hit us up and said, ‘I need to see what it’s like to play for real.’ We all met in Chicago. I’ll never forget that. We went to a gym in Chicago and we played pick-up with some other guys just to give him some of that real feel, what it was like. Then, I don’t know if you remember, at the 2008 Olympics, (Wade) went off. That’s what you do for your real friends and your real brothers.”

Given their collective salaries for the 2016 of more than $100 million, such a convergence will take some creative salary cap tinkering to make it a reality. Yet Paul has indicated that anything is possible.