Christopher Emanuel Paul, who goes by the nickname of CP3, was born on May 6, 1986, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

Paul grew up with his family which consisted of his mom and dad, along with his older brother named C.J. Paul.

Ever since a young age, Chris Paul has been in love with the game of basketball, but one factor that has always been a struggle for him was his height.

Throughout Paul's childhood, he played a bunch of different sports, but he excelled mainly at basketball and football.

Despite his obvious talent in basketball and football, Paul was still often not wanted on both organized teams and kids' teams due to his lack of height.

As a freshman in high school, Paul measured in at a little over 5 feet tall which is extremely short, especially for a high schooler.

Many of the high school coaches considered Paul too small to play, but he didn't let this stop him, as he continued to get better and better until he was too good to be declined.

You're way too short to play for us!

Chris Paul never let his height stop him from achieving anything in life because he had an enormous amount of determination to be the best which outweighed any doubts about his height.

I'm determined to become the best and prove him wrong!

By high school, Paul had to choose a sport to devote all his time to out of basketball and football, and he ended up choosing basketball.  

Despite coaches still considering him too small to play, Paul didn't let this ruin his confidence, and he ended up working even harder to make the team and prove all the doubters wrong.

I'm not going to let you bring my confidence down!

Without his confidence, Paul would've let those doubts bring him down, and he would've never been able to become the star he is today.

One day, I will be great!

After high school came to a close, Paul went to play college basketball at Wake Forest University in his hometown of Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

By the time he got to college, Paul went through a couple of growth spurts and grew to 6 feet tall, which is still considered really small to play professional basketball.

As he did in high school though, he didn't let his height stop him and he kept working to get better, and he ended up becoming one of the top prospects in the country.

Chris Paul's hard work was one of the main reasons that he was able to become as great as he did, and even when he became great, he still didn't stop working because he knew there was always room to improve.

I know I can still get better!

Paul played two pretty good seasons at Wake Forest, averaging 15 points, 6 assists, and 3 steals, and then he declared for the NBA draft.

Then, in the 2005 NBA draft, the unthinkable happened. Chris Paul proved all the doubters throughout his life wrong when he was drafted with the fourth pick in the draft by the New Orleans Hornets. He finally achieved his dream of being in the NBA.

And with the fourth pick of the NBA Draft, the New Orleans Hornets select... Chris Paul!

Just as they did throughout his whole life, people still doubted Chris Paul's success in the NBA due to his height, but he proved these doubts wrong once again as he did many times before.

I don't think Chris Paul will be that good because of how small he is.

Yeah, I agree with you on that.

In Paul's first year as a pro, he didn't slow down at all as he ended up winning the rookie of the year award almost unanimously, and he took leadership of his team even though he was a rookie.

Thank you for this award!