Chris Paul Says He's 'Grateful' After Suns Trade: 'Gotta Move Forward and See What's Next' (Exclusive)

In an exclusive interview with PEOPLE, the NBA star opens up about the "therapeutic" process of writing his memoir

When ESPN reported that the Phoenix Suns were sending Chris Paul, Landry Shamet and draft picks to the Washington Wizards in exchange for Bradley Beal, the star point guard was in mid-flight to New York for a press tour promoting his memoir, Sixty-One.

Paul, 38, a twelve-time NBA All-Star, has had the East Coast trip — and the subsequent lineup of interviews and appearances — scheduled for weeks, so the news that Phoenix moved him to an organization undergoing a rebuild threw a wrench into his press tour this week.

"Ha! I know, right? It's like perfect timing," Paul tells PEOPLE in an interview in New York City.

"When I was in the air yesterday and it happened, the first thing I thought was like, 'Well, that's going to make the press tour interesting.' But it is what it is," he continues.

The veteran point guard, who is generally considered a lock for the Hall of Fame, adds, "You've got to deal with it. It ain't like I was going to shut it down and act like it didn't happen, but I've got to move forward and see what's next."

Related: NBA Star Chris Paul Talks the 'Emotional' Bond He Shares with His Father: He's 'Never Wavered'

It's difficult for Paul to explain the chaos of life in the NBA to those who haven't experienced it, he says. "It's different, it's definitely different."

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A father of two, Paul says the biggest challenge of a sudden trade — especially when the athlete himself learns the news at the same time as the rest of the world — is the one faced by the athlete's family. "I'd say it's the toughest on my kids and family for me. It happens, and you go to work, and I always say things could be a lot worse," he says.

"Really, I'm just grateful that what's going on in my situation is that I'm not out of the league. I'm still playing," he adds.

With both kids currently participating in basketball camps — his daughter Camryn, 10, is in Los Angeles and son Chris Jr., 14, in North Carolina — Paul and his wife Jada are excited to enjoy "as much time as possible" with their family this offseason before he makes any decisions about his future in the NBA.

"I hope I'll figure out where I'll be playing at next year, and then it's back to work," he says.

No stranger to harsh criticism from bitter basketball fans, the North Carolina native hopes viewers remember that NBA players aren't immune to hurtful comments.

"There's both sides to it. We're blessed to make the amount of money that we make and things like that, but we're humans just like everybody else," he says.

Paul began writing Sixty-One in 2020, during the NBA shutdown amid the COVID-19 pandemic. (Its title references the number of points he scored in a high school game in tribute to his late grandfather.) He says the process was "stressful" – so much so that he scrapped the whole thing and started over after reading the first draft from his collaborator.

"Michael Wilbon helped me do the framework for the book, and when I read the first copy, it didn't sound like me. So, I started back over from page one, and rewrote the whole thing beginning to end."

He finished writing the final version during the most recent NBA season, after an "unbelievable amount of time, energy, and effort put into it," he says. "That was the most important thing to me — for it to sound like me with something this personal."

Aside from maintaining an elite level of play throughout his career, Paul has been at the center of several headlines coming out of the NBA over the years. But Sixty-One tells his story before he became an NBA All-Star.

"People have always asked me about my trade to the Lakers or the Donald Sterling situation," — when the Los Angeles Clippers owner was heard on tape making racist statements.

"I've been in so many different situations since I've been in the NBA that I could have a plethora of books if I wanted to," says Paul.

But when asked if fans should look forward to any follow-up memoirs, Paul says, "I don't know... it was pretty tough."

Now that the book is out, Paul says writing Sixty-One was "therapeutic," and he'd recommend writing to anyone looking to reflect on their life and relationships.

"People say this all the time about therapy and this is part of that. When you write stuff down, even if it's your goals or thoughts, it makes it real," he says. "I realized in this process that with writing things, it just felt good to get it out on paper, and then the next step is talking about it, right?"

Reading aloud the words he had written for the book's audio version — specifically the chapter about his grandfather's funeral — was "the hardest thing to get through," Paul says.

"It was just really tough," he says, adding that recording the audiobook forced him to "reflect on things and memories that I hadn't subjected myself to in 20 years."

His recounting of childhood memories in the book is vivid, which Paul says is because his brain operates "very visually" — a trait that has helped him excel as a point guard, where being able to see one's teammates and size up the flow of the game is key.

"I'm definitely interested to see when my parents and my brother read it, because like I said, this book was therapeutic. I feel like I wrote some things to them in the book," says Paul.

Sixty-One is a must-read for fans who have watched Paul's career since he was drafted in 2005, but the All-Star hopes it will get the attention of basketball fans who aren't fond of him on the court.

Related: NBA Star Chris Paul Talks the 'Emotional' Bond He Shares with His Father: He's 'Never Wavered'

Paul explains, "I would love for somebody who hates me to read it. Everything is perspective."

"So if you don't know sports and you read it, that's one perspective; If you hate my guts and you read it, that's another perspective. Same goes for my fans — and I'm here for all of it."

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