DeAndre Jordan and Chris Paul have denied reports of a serious rift between the two leading up to free agency.

“I think there was forced tension from the things we all heard about each other that wasn’t true at all,” Jordan said before the preseason. “It was just the outside (perception). We never asked each other about it.”

Some of the ways Paul wears on teammates is because he's a point guard.

“Not everybody is going to like the point guard. Sometimes, you have to be an (expletive). Straight up,” Austin Rivers said. “The point guard is the least liked person on every team – the good ones – because he’s the one that’s going to put you in your place. He’s the one that’s going to tell you the truth. He’s going to yell at you.

“… All the good point guards have to be the bad guy sometime.”

“If I didn’t like Chris,” Jordan said frankly, “I wouldn’t have signed here.”

Paul doesn't question whether he's possibly a "bad teammate."

“I never said ‘It’s possibly true’ because I know myself,” Paul said. “It’s like, if someone said to me, ‘You’re a murderer,’ I’d be like, ‘Nope!’”