At age 34, Paul George can be a bit old school. Like how he is handling free agency.
George is going to “take free agent meetings” with the 76ers, Magic and Clippers according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and other reports. Take meetings? The last guy to do free agency that way was probably Kevin Durant in the Hamptons in 2016, it’s not how things are done now. Does George expect the teams to put together pitch videos, and if so how soon can we get our hands on those?
The results of those meetings will set the course of NBA free agency this summer — George is the first and biggest domino to fall. After George makes his call, many other things, such as where DeMar DeRozan signs or a Brandon Ingram trade, will follow.
What George, 34, wants is a four-year max contract. The Clippers, to this point, have stuck with an offer close to what Kawhi Leonard signed: three years and $152 million (a little below the max). The max the Clippers can offer George is four years, $221 million. Philadelphia GM Daryl Morey is reportedly willing to offer that four-year max (the most another team can offer George is $212 over four years) — he wants to put George on the wing between Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid to create a true contender in the East. Up-and-coming Orlando needs shooting and a veteran presence, pairing George with Paolo Banchero vaults it up the list of East contenders.
George has loved playing in Los Angeles and having his family at home games, and league sources told NBC Sports if the Clippers put a fourth year on their contract offer, he would likely sign it and stay home.
The Warriors were willing to offer George the four-year max, reports Tim Kawakami of The Athletic. He also has the details on what the Warriors offered the Clippers as part of a potential sign-and-trade (an idea that fell apart when George opted out and became a free agent).
The Warriors had agreed to give George a max, four-year extension upon arrival. They believed they had proposed several variations of a trade that the Clippers could and would accept. Stephen Curry and Draymond Green were 100 percent on board. George gave strong indications he wanted to join the Warriors. But the Clippers never agreed to any version of a trade, and now George is a free agent and essentially beyond the Warriors’ reach...
From what I’ve heard, some combination (but definitely not all) of [Andrew] Wiggins, CP3 [Chris Paul], Jonathan Kuminga or Moses Moody plus one future first-round pick were put into discussions with the Clippers.
The Warriors would not put both Wiggins and Kuminga in a deal, although it’s unclear if that would have changed the Clippers position.
To this point, the Clippers have called George’s “bluff” that he would leave Los Angeles. We will find out whether that is really a bluff in the coming days, but either the Clippers will get George back or — if he walks for nothing — they dip below the second tax apron and could have space to use the mid-level exception to round out the roster.
Before all that, the Clippers need to take part in some old-school meetings.
