In an interview with ABC11’s Travon Miles, Chris Paul went out of his way to show love to North Carolina Central head coach Levelle Moton. Moton is a notable basketball coach in the college ranks, having led his alma mater North Carolina Central to unprecedented success in his 15 seasons at the helm of the program.

Paul said of Moton, “Man, [LaVelle] is a legend, man, a living legend and what he’s doing. Not just locally, but nationally, right? On a national level and the way that he coaches his players and the biggest thing that I’ve always admired about ‘Velle because I done known ‘Velle since I was a young and coming up and don’t get it. Twisted. ‘Velle was nice too ‘Velle could hoop. The biggest thing that I’ve always appreciated about ‘Velle is not just how he coaches guys to be better basketball players, but how he trains them and coaches them to be men. If you look at his players, you know, when they leave school, they leave as better men.”

He added, “Velle is just, a great guy.”

Chris Paul surely knows a lot about Moton and his coaching success. Paul partnered with Andscape to produce the Why Not Us: North Carolina Central Basketball show on ESPN+ that chronicled a season at North Carolina Central. He also made an appearance in the docu-series imparting knowledge on Moton’s players.

He took over the helm of the Eagles in March 2009 after serving as an assistant coach. Under Moton, the team has won four MEAC Championships and earned four trips to the NCAA March Madness Tournament.

In December, Moton reached a historic milestone in North Carolina Central history, as he became the winningest coach in NCCU basketball history with the team’s 102-50 victory over St. Andrews University on Friday. The win marked Coach Moton’s 252nd triumph, surpassing Floyd Brown, who served as NCCU coach from 1952-1970 and finished his career with 251 wins.

At the post-game press conference following his historic victory, Moton reflected on the accomplishment as well as his other achievements during his career.

“I think it’s everything, you know, it’s always special when you do it at home because you know, people, people knew me when I was broken, right? It’s so many people that helped me, man. Like, y’all wouldn’t believe the story. Like, I wasn’t this polished, finished product, you know, that you see right before you. When I was a kid, I figured out that I was going to the same middle school as Pistol Pete Maravich. And I said to my coach, Bob Smallfield, like I want my jersey retired one day.”

He continued and spoke about his time at North Carolina Central and his summation of it, saying,

“And then when I got to Central, I just said I wanted my jersey retired one day. I’ve been able to get all of those things, along with a statue, along with a mural. So the blessings have, have really come, but they’ve come because I just put my head down and worked. Right? And then you look up and it’s almost like cutting grass. You just keep your head down because you know you’re cutting a large amount. Then you happen to look up and look behind you and it’s like, wow, this is, this is It’s nice, pretty acres of land that I’ve cut, right? And so you look at it, you honor it, you get you some water, wipe your sweat and put your head back down and go cut some more, right? And then when it’s all said and done, you just hope people appreciate it. And that’s all I ever wanted to do.”

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