Clippers’ Chris Paul, Jamal Crawford offer thoughts on Donald Trump’s victory

Chris Paul watched Tuesday’s presidential election with his wife and 7-year-old son. 

His son, Chris Jr., was well aware of how it worked. He knew how many electoral votes the candidates could pick up in California. He also knew how many were at stake in Florida. Paul said the hardest part was eventually explaining to Chris Jr. that Donald Trump will be the next president of the United States. 

“Just explaining to them what’s happening and going through this process with them, you know what I mean?” Paul said on Wednesday of how he dealt with being a father and husband on election night. “So, uh, it’s part of America, the freedom to vote and stuff like that, and we move on.”

Paul, the Clippers’ 31-year-old point guard, is more politically active than a lot of athletes. He recently endorsed Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton — who lost the election to Trump — in a video that encouraged Americans to exercise their right to vote.

At the ESPY Awards in July, he stood on the stage with NBA stars LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Carmelo Anthony and urged fellow athletes to actively discuss social issues. 

“Um … kind of tough, you know what I mean?” Paul said when asked for his initial thoughts on the election results. His reaction was echoed by teammate Jamal Crawford. 

The 36-year-old Crawford has been vocal about politics on his social media feed. 

When Trump said in a presidential debate that his past inappropriate comments about women were “locker room talk,” Crawford tweeted, “Locker room?”

During Tuesday’s election, Crawford tweeted, “Man, this dude better not win..” As the election unfolded and Trump’s chances of winning materialized, Crawford followed up by tweeting, “I’m really over here scared..” And then, “Gonna pray even longer tonight... ”

“I was just more shocked than anything, shocked that things played out how they played out, but shocked that it even got that far, to be honest with you,” Crawford said at the Clippers’ practice facility Wednesday. “But that’s some of America, or most of America, who’s doing the voting, so I guess the people have spoken.”

Crawford repeatedly expressed his disbelief at Trump’s victory, even saying that a Kanye West presidency doesn’t sound so crazy after all. 

“If you just watched the debates and all the things that came out of it, you’re almost like, ‘There’s no way that this can continue on,’ ” Crawford added. “It’s almost like a train wreck, right?”

The Clippers play the Trailblazers at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday at Staples Center, and Crawford said he does not think the election results will be a distraction. 

There is only so much he can do. 

“Just hope for the best,” Crawford said, lowering his voice, when asked how he will move forward. “Just hope for the best, that’s all.”

jesse.dougherty@latimes.com

Twitter: @dougherty_jesse