Chris Paul's Legacy Rests on Whether He Can Win an NBA Title and Get Invited Back on 'Family Feud'
Chris Paul and the Phoenix Suns are headed to the Western Conference Finals following a sweep of the Denver Nuggets. For the Suns, it is their first trip to the WCF since 2010. For Paul, it will be just his second trip to the Conference Finals in a long, distinguished career. He previously lost to the Golden State Warriors in 2018 after taking a 3-2 lead in a game where he hurt his hamstring and missed the final two games of the series. If Paul and the Suns are able to advance to the NBA Finals, it would be huge for his legacy, but it wouldn't change the fact that Chris Paul has never won Family Feud.
Paul and his family have been on The Feud twice and come up short both times. They originally went on Family Feud in 2011 during the NBA lockout. According to a story in The Times-Picayune that ran the morning the episode aired, the Paul family called the show's hotline and tried out like any other normal family. Seriously.
According to a show spokeswoman, there were no pre-arrangements made to inform casting producers that an NBA superstar would be trying out with his family.
“I didn’t know who he was,” said Gaby Johnston, executive producer. “I had no clue.
“We’d done NBA players before on the show. Because of his size, he’s doesn’t look like a basketball player.
The Paul family took on a hilariously stereotypical Boston family headed by a police officer. (The Mare of Beantown? Anyone?) Note that the officer, Paul, and Steve Harvey are all about the same height.
Paul would eventually be let down by his family's inability to figure out a car radio makes noise and the Paul family seemingly missed out on their one chance at Fast Money. Most teams never make it back.
Luckily, Chris Paul actually is a famous professional basketball player. So unlike most families that lose on Family Feud, they did get a shot at redemption. In 2018 the Paul family met Stephen Curry's family on The Feud. While CP3's family is comprised of normal people, Steph's family is so loaded Seth Curry didn't even make the team. (Cliff Paul was not involved either.)
The highlight of the episode was CP singing an alternate version of the Popeye theme song.
Needless to say, the Paul family lost. I'm not sure when the episode was taped, but it aired exactly a month after Game 5 of the aforementioned Western Conference Finals where CP3 hit that huge three-pointer and did Curry's shimmy.
And if Paul's hamstring injury with a minute left in Game 5 wasn't painful enough, he then had to be in the studio as Ayesha Curry put up an iconic 194 in Fast Money. How much pain can one family inflict on another?
If revenge is a storyline you're interested in, consider if the Suns meet the Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA Finals. Seth Curry wasn't even invited on The Feud. If he can beat CP3 in the Finals, maybe he can go on Family Feud and bring his family: The Rivers family. The possibilities are endless.
Anyway, for a competitor like Chris Paul being forced to sit on the sidelines and see something like Ayesha Curry go off and not be able to do anything about it is just brutal. Let's hope that Paul is able to do something this year that he has fallen short of his entire career. Let's hope that the producers invite the Paul family back to compete a third time and CP3 can finally win the one thing that has alluded him for years. Also, it would be cool if he won an NBA title. If for no other reason than it would make the caption of this video from the official Family Feud YouTube channel accurate three years later.
The stakes have never been higher.