Chris Paul donates $2.5M to Wake Forest basketball program

FILE – In this March 2, 2013, file photo, Los Angeles Clippers’ Chris Paul shows his Wake Forest jersey to fans as the school retired his number during a ceremony at halftime of an NCAA college basketball game between Wake Forest and Maryland in Winston-Salem, N.C. Former Wake Forest guard and NBA All-Star Chris Paul is donating $2.5 million in support of the Demon Deacons’ basketball team, the school announced Tuesday, Aug. 7, 2018. (AP Photo/Chuck Burton, File)

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — NBA All-Star and former Wake Forest guard Chris Paul is donating $2.5 million in support of the Demon Deacons’ basketball team.

The donation announced Tuesday is the school’s largest by a former Wake Forest basketball player.

School officials say it will assist a project to expand and enhance the men’s and women’s locker rooms, and the men’s locker room will be named for him.

Paul says the locker room project “inspired me, because that’s where players build relationships and create a unifying camaraderie.”

The Houston Rockets guard and Winston-Salem native led Wake Forest to its first No. 1 ranking in 2004-05 before becoming a nine-time All-Star and two-time Olympic gold medal winner with the U.S. national team.