If Chris Paul was looking for any sympathy following Sunday's disappointing 123-90 loss to the Dallas Mavericks, the Phoenix Suns star won't find it with Patrick Beverley.

Former NBA point guard Jeremy Lin reflected on Paul's larger body of work and said the 37-year-old "deserves" to taste victory in the NBA Finals. Beverley disagreed:

If one applied a very literal definition of the word "deserve," then Beverley probably has a point.

Paul has spent 17 seasons in the NBA and reached the playoffs on 14 occasions. He has certainly had plenty of opportunities to earn the most glaring omission from his Hall of Fame resume.

The 37-year-old has encountered some bad luck—most notably the hamstring injury in 2018 that might have cost the Houston Rockets a spot in the NBA Finals. But he has also deserved some blame in his teams' postseason exits, too.

But it's easy to see the wider point Lin was making.

Paul is one of the greatest point guards in NBA history, yet the absence of a title might overshadow a lot of what he achieved on the court. He could potentially join the likes of Charles Barkley, Elgin Baylor and Patrick Ewing as the one of the best players never to win a championship.

Of course, it's all relative.

Beverley and plenty of others around the Association might be thrilled to swap places with Paul and be considered a great who couldn't win the big one rather than somebody whose contributions will likely be lost to history over time.