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also become a leader off the hardwood, having been elected to two terms as president of the NBA Players Association. After his sophomore year, Paul left Wake Forest University in Winston- Salem, North Carolina (nickname: Demon Deacons) to enter the NBA draft as one of the top point guards in the country. The New Orleans Hornets (now the Pelicans) selected him with the fourth overall selection in the 2005 NBA draft. Paul has been honored on numerous occasions by the league, including being named as the 2005 NBA Rookie of the Year and member of the All-Rookie team, as well as being an eight-time All-NBA selection, nine-time All-Star, and a six- time NBA steals champion. Paul has been featured in a series of television commercials for State Farm Insurance Company (headquartered in Bloomington, Illinois), displaying a comedic talent that may allow him to segue to another career once he is done stealing basketballs on the hardwood. The commercials, featuring Paul and Rockets teammate James Harden along with veteran comedian Oscar Nunez (from the NBC hit show The Office ), portray Paul’s funnier side and show another dimension of this all-world player. Paul has been in the league for 14 seasons, but Houston is his third team and Paul is still looking for the ultimate prize, an NBA championship ring. He is a two-time Olympian, representing Team USA in gold medal performances in 2012 (London) and 2008 (Beijing). Paul led his Wake Forest Demon Deacons into the Sweet 16 of the 2004 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Basketball Tournament in his freshman year. Achieving success at the NBA level will help cap off his lifetime dedication to the game and will be a nice footnote on his eventual election to the Pro Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Massachusetts.

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CHAPTER 1: GREATEST MOMENTS