Did you hear that, Clippers fans? Chris Paul isn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

This weekend, the game-changing point guard is spending some time in Orlando. But he’s presumably not chatting with Dwight Howard about which team they’re going to play for next season. On Thursday, CP3 was a guest on Jim Rome‘s radio show and revealed that he will not opt out of his current contract at the end of the season to explore free agency. Rather, he will remain with the Clips for another season—and collect the $17 million salary that comes along with it. That means that he’ll have an entire offseason to work with Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan, Caron Butler, & Co. to turn the Clippers into a legitimate NBA Finals contender. It also means that the trade that was completed between the Clippers and the New Orleans Hornets late last year was well worth it for Los Angeles.

This isn’t just good for CP3, though. It’s also a really good sign for the league. Although much was made about NBA Commissioner David Stern‘s decision to nix a CP3 trade to the Los Angeles Lakers in favor of doing a deal with the Clippers—a move that was widely criticized by players, owners, and fans at the time—it’s worked out well for the Clippers and the Western Conference. Because the Clippers have Chris Paul, they’re now a playoff team with the potential to turn the Clippers into a real powerhouse in the future. That’s good for business for both the Clippers and the NBA and, quite frankly, it’s been great watching CP3 thus far in Los Angeles. So it’d be great to see him do it for at least another year—and hopefully longer.

And if I’m happy about it, I can only imagine what Clippers fans are feeling right now. They’ve suffered through plenty over the years. It’s good to see that they won’t have to suffer anymore. At least for the next year.

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