Suns star Chris Paul is back in Phoenix after a whirlwind Friday that saw him fulfill a goal 19 years in the making: graduating from college.

And he left his classmates at Winston-Salem State in North Carolina with a lasting memory of the day.

Paul spent two years at Wake Forest in his native Winston-Salem before entering the NBA draft in 2005. But he decided to go back to school in 2020 and enrolled at Winston-Salem State, earning his degree in communications while doing his schooling mostly virtually.

After the Suns’ game Thursday night, a 111-95 win over the Los Angeles Clippers, he hopped on a plane to arrive at the HBCU in time to take part in graduation ceremonies with the Class of 2022.

And each of his fellow grads received a bank account worth $2,500, courtesy of Paul.

Congrats to @WSSURAMS grad @CP3! #WSSU22 pic.twitter.com/KCJLgOTPJs

— NBA (@NBA) December 16, 2022

He told reporters Friday that it was important to him to take part in his graduation in person, to meet the other students and to march into the ceremony with them.

“I wanted to talk to them and let them hear from me and me hear from them. It’s a big deal,” Paul, 37, said. “Everyone has their own journey, their own experiences, and I wanted the full experience of what it meant to be a graduate.”

Despite being a 12-time NBA All-Star, a four-time first-team All-NBA selection, an Olympic gold medalist (twice) and a member of the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team, Paul was a bit jittery before graduation.

“When I was about to walk across the stage, there were nerves, there was an excitement, there was a feeling of completion,” Paul said, via Andscape. “But knowing my family was there … I played many high school games in that annex. And it was so dope to look over and see my aunts and uncles, my grandparents, my parents who had been there that whole time. And then to see my wife, my kids, it just felt normal.”

The Suns face the New Orleans Pelicans on Saturday night in Phoenix.

–Field Level Media