Paul George is headed back to the Eastern Conference.
George entered free agency Sunday planning to meet with three teams: the Philadelphia 76ers, Orlando Magic, and Los Angeles Clippers.
He didn’t so much meet with the Clippers as his agent, Aaron Mintz of CAA, and Clippers president Lawrence Frank spoke and soon after the Clippers released a statement saying they and George were going their separate ways. That statement read, in part:
“Paul has informed us that he is signing his next contract with another team... We negotiated for months with Paul and his representative on a contract that would make sense for both sides, and we were left far apart. The gap was significant. We understand and respect Paul’s decision to look elsewhere for his next contract. We explored an opt-in and trade scenario, but it would have left us in a similar position under the new CBA, with very little asset value to justify the restrictions. We will miss Paul.”
Then the Orlando Magic reached a deal to bring in Kentavious Caldwell-Pope at three years, $66 million. That used up too much of the Magic’s cap space and took them out of the running.
That left Philadelphia as the last team standing — and Paul George is headed there. George and the 76ers quickly agreed on a four-year, $212 million max contract, a story broken by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and confirmed by NBC Sports Philadelphia’s Noah Levick.
🚨 Breaking news: The Sixers have their third star. @NoahLevick has the story. ⤵️https://t.co/avFxrcDuUN
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) July 1, 2024
The Clippers were unwilling to go four years, reportedly trying to line up George’s extension with Kawhi Leonard’s extension — three years, $152 million, giving the team a discount to stay home. James Harden agreed to two years, $70 million to remain with the Clippers, another shorter deal for less than the max.
George was holding out for more — in the NBA, money = respect. George didn’t feel respected by the Clippers with their offer, so he headed across the country to get it.
George makes the 76ers a contender with Joel Embiid at center and Tyrese Maxey — who will soon agree to a max extension rookie contract — at the point. George is a two-way player, a quality wing defender who averaged 22.6 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 3.5 assists a game last season while shooting 41.3% from beyond the arc (on 7.9 attempts a game). He finished just two spots out of making an All-NBA team.
If Nick Nurse can get Embiid and George to the playoffs healthy, the 76ers are right there with New York as a threat to the defending champion Celtics.
The 76ers also have re-signed Kelly Oubre Jr. and added Andre Drummond and Eric Gordon to the roster this offseason (plus drafted UCLA’s high-energy big man Adem Bona in the second round, he will get a contract and likely minutes off the bench). It is expected that Maxey, Oubre Jr., George and Embiid will start, still GM Daryl Morey needs to find a floor-spacing wing to add to that group (George can play the three or the four but played more officially at the four last season, although he and Leonard were pretty interchangeable in Tyronn Lue’s system).
George’s signing could open the gates for a series of other offseason moves — teams that missed out on George could look to sign DeMar DeRozan (still a free agent) or trade for Brandon Ingram. Zach LaVine also is available for a trade, although his market is much thinner.
