What Paul George & LA Clippers “Not Seeing Eye To Eye” Really Means

What Paul George & LA Clippers “Not Seeing Eye To Eye” Really Means

on today’s show the latest reports say that Paul George and the Clippers are not seeing eye to eye about the new contract what does that mean what are the possibilities for Paul George going forward in the coming weeks about his free agency and what do I want going to be talking about it all on today’s lock down almost back from Cancun Clippers you are lock lock on Clippers your daily Los Angeles Clippers podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day yes sir you are locking in with the clips thank you for making lock on Clippers the first listen of your day your team every day I’m your host Daren vieri born and raised in LA and just finished my 19th season as a Clipper fan you can also follow me on Twitter and Instagram at d dropper pod And subscribe to my own YouTube channel dime dropper for even more NBA LA Clipper LA Sports and coming up copon Medica content and lock on Clippers is free and available wherever you get your podcasts including YouTube where I want you to let me know what you think about the possibilities of Paul George leaving and more I know a lot of people have been saying that they’re satisfied with Paul George leaving they’re over him and I completely understand that but before you jump to those kind of statements I want people to realize what it would mean to lose Paul George now before we get started this episode is brought to you by priz piix prize piix is the best daily fantasy sports platform in America all you got to do is download the app today and use code locked on NBA for a first deposit match up to $100 but let’s get right into it like the Dome Paul George the latest report says from Brian wior that the Clippers are reportedly not seeing eye to eye with each other and it’s very obvious what the holdup is Paul George wants more money and potentially more years than the Clippers are willing to offer him now kawh Leonard has signed for about three years 150 million so about 50 million per year for three years Paul George is looking for one last big contract and when I say last big that means probably four or five years on it the Clippers clearly don’t want to pay Paul George for more years than kawhai because they want their contracts to terminate at the same time so then they will be able to restart at the same time they don’t want to give Paul George more than Kawai because they don’t deserve that he’s worth more than Kawai and now what we’re seeing is a potential potential game of chicken between Paul George and the clippers because Paul George is like look if Philly or any other team offers me a Max I can take that and now you guys don’t have much flexibility all you can do is probably get somebody for the mid-level exception because you’re going to have to resign Harden and you’re going to have to resign yeah you’re going to have to resign Harden kawai’s already resigned you don’t have a money for some big spot nobody that’s a midlevel exception player is going to be on the level of a Paul George so while you still might be a competitive team you are not getting the adequate returns you know the if the Clippers wanted to get somebody to replace Paul George in A Sign we’ll talk about the sign and trade possibilities but the thing about a whole sign and trade is that that needs to be beneficial for Paul George he’s the free agent he’s the one that makes the decision I think the only way it comes to a sign and trade is if the Clippers and Paul are like you know what the thing is Paul the only way it would come to a signning trade is if Paul wants to go to a team that he probably can’t just go to outright because they don’t have the cap space to sign him but if it’s Philly he can literally get a Max spot and the Philadelphia 76ers could offer it to him and then the Clippers are forced to offer him Max money to keep him around so that’s the D the tough part they’re probably like look I don’t believe that Paul George is going to leave Los Angeles and it’s it’s very realistic to assume that it’s very realistic to assume that Paul George won’t leave LA because he chose to come here he was on a current deal with Oklahoma City that he just resigned the previous summer and you know showed up at Russell Westbrook’s party or whatever saying that he was here for the Long Haul and then he went against that to come here because he got an offer to come play with Kawai and he got traded he resigned here he’s mentioned multiple times before and after he started his podcast that he wants to retire a Clipper he’s got his family here it would be a huge move for him to go to ice cold Philadelphia Pennsylvania but money talks and if you can get one last big contract and you get a chance at winning a ring I mean Joel embiid and Tyrese Maxi are no joke and if you look at Joel embiid while he’s been injured in the playoffs a lot he’s been injured and still playing his injuries haven’t been as severe as Kawai whereas Kawai hasn’t even been able to play so in my honest opinion I think Paul George has a better chance of winning a ring with the Sixers I really do cuz then he’s clearly the third guy Tyrese Max is an ascending player James Harden is a declining player and so is kawii Leonard and then Joel embiid you know there’s a part of me and probably a lot of NBA fans that think his best days are still to come although he is in his prime thing is he’s very injury-prone but every regular season he seems to get better I mean this regular season he was absolutely dominating but the thing is when you hear the not seeing eye to eye that’s very clear what it is the Clippers want to sign Paul George for either the same amount as Kawai or less which is a three-year deal and Paul George wants more money than that Paul George wants more years than that Paul George is probably saying look I’m the one who’s available as good as Kawhi Leonard is and I know he’s better than me at basketball I’m the one who’s available it’s a compelling argument but if I’m the Clippers it’s it’s like I don’t know do I pay the guy or do I not because we’ve obviously seen he didn’t live up to the $50 million contract that he was getting with his 19 points per game average in the postseason but the guy is still a very good player he’s one of the best clippers of all time he did get us to the Conference Finals as the star in those last two games that won US the series again I have to specify so much because the Kawai fans get sensitive and the Paul George haters get sensitive I’m not saying he led us that season or that entire postseason but those last two games and in the Conference Finals Paul George was our guy he took us over the hump he created good shots for Terren man he went off in game five against Utah and here’s the thing NBA and business is a what have you done for me lately kind of business so Paul George what he did in 2021 it shouldn’t hold that much weight right now into these kinds of conversations but at the same time you don’t want to end on a sour note you don’t want want to end like Blake Griffin ended with the Clippers or maybe you do but Paul George second consecutive All-Star appearance this past season third in the last four years averaged 235 and three and a half assists on a career high 47 41 91 splits he literally shot a better percentage in every statistical category this year than any other year of his career so with all the criticism that we give him that’s pretty amazing however 19 1 12 points per game in the playoffs that’s his lowest average since 2013 where it was very hard to score compared to now it was totally different spacing and stuff of that nature so he doesn’t really get a pass he doesn’t really get a pass for his performances the fact of the matter is he’s not worth as much as kawhai but coming up what are the possibilities what are all the possibilities that could happen going to be talking about that coming up I got to tell you a little something about prize picks prize picks is the best daily fantasy sports 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opt in is because he is looking for more guaranteed money let’s say he has a serious injury this year and he opsed the contract then teams are not going to want to in the summer of 2025 paying more money for the next three to five years so right now where he just came off career highs and shooting splits still average 23 points a game this is the time for him to get his cash this is the time for him to get his cash so the likelihood of him opting into that final year isn’t high now what Paul George wants is that he wants to stay with the Clippers he wants to renew his deal so let’s say he gets signed to let’s say the best case scenario is we get him to sign to something similar to Kawai so let’s say three years 135 million so he gets 45 million per year so he gets $5 million less than Kawai he’s still gets 45 million per year for 3 years and then he his contract ends the same time as kawhai does that would be fantastic but considering what I feel like is on Paul George and his team’s agenda they want to get something along a $200 million contract here and mean four years let’s say it’s four years 50 million right I’m sorry four years 200 million so 50 million per year for four years and then let’s say the last year is a player option or a team it I don’t think it’s going to be a team option A a player option so let’s say it’s a player option for that fourth year he would probably opt into that as like a 38y old trying to get 50 million but again like this would be only because Paul George is being stubborn and he wants more guaranteed money so that would be getting him more years than kawhai and I really don’t think the Clippers want to do that I really don’t think they do so let’s say it’s the exact same as Kawai 150 million for three years that would be fine too like at the end of the day yes we don’t want to pay Paul George the same as Kawai yes he’s not a $50 million player but the alternative so let’s say he goes to Philly for free you would think we have a ton of cap space no we don’t because we have to resign James Harden and then we have to you know we’ll see what happens with Westbrook if he opts into his deal but we have the PJ Tucker $11 million we’re only going to have enough for like a role player I don’t know who that could be I don’t think that moving the needle if we have to rely on James Harden to be our second scorer that’s not going to move the that’s not it for me that’s not a championship team right now when you look at the way Boston’s playing and by the way we’re going to have to release an episode on what Boston winning the championship means for the Clippers and for roster building but they haven’t won yet Dallas stayed alive so but that’s another possibility it’s a very bad situation people think it’s okay because it’s going to be addition by subtraction losing Paul George and look he’s annoying at times he says a lot he makes excuses he doesn’t fully take accountability he leaves a lot to be desired he has the ability to drop 30 when he’s at his best consistently and make it look easy but then he has his games where he goes seven for 20 or Worse three for 14 and just shoots jumpers out of the game doesn’t even try to attack the rim so that to me is the frustrating part the thing that Paul George does do though is he’s a body even if he’s playing lazy defense he is literally a body out there with length and size that can switch and that teams don’t want to go at and then when he is engaged which is I want to say 75% of the time but 25% of the time not being engaged defensively is like an estimation of mine but for a star player that’s not good enough so that’s why to me he’s you know the the two-way player stuff gets ere exaggerated but if you look at Paul he also his off ball utility you know is the way he can work quickly off the catch you can run him off curls you can run him off screens at the three-point line inside the arc can throw him the ball on the post he’s a coach’s dream in terms of Versatility you can use him in so many different ways so that’s what makes Paul George so great and especially with a guy like Harden you know he doesn’t always need the ball the thing about Paul George is though his rhythm is very wonky sometimes it’s like he needs the ball more and he’s gone cold and you don’t want to make him just a catch and shoot player then if you give him the ball too much he starts turn the ball over and getting Reckless and just wasting dribbles so the duality of Paul the middle ground to find between catch and shoot Paul and attacking point forward Paul is one that has still not been found really you would think in 21 we found it but we didn’t really fully get to see the kawh Paul tandem go all the way so I don’t know the fact of the matter is I don’t think if you are committed to running this team back I do not think that losing Paul George for nothing is the move I just don’t think it is at all because it’s not like you have a bunch of cap space to sign someone better and you’re not going to sign cakam I don’t think the Clippers are signing cakam he’s staying in Indiana and if I’m him why would I leave Indiana it’s a lot of upside there the Clippers are not an up side team they’re a overdue winning a championship or getting the championship team so I think right now not rocking the boat not changing too much by bringing Paul George back is probably the best move for us but I’ll tell you the one scenario everyone keeps talking about sign and trade for this to happen though Paul George and the Clippers need to be like look y’all are not going to pay me what I want but I don’t want to leave you for free here’s my question why would Paul George do the Clippers any favors when we’re not paying him cuz with Chris Paul I think we didn’t want to pay him a lot but CP3 I mean he had he had been with us for six years he changed kind of the course of our franchise and I don’t think he wanted to leave all his teammates high and dry although you know I don’t you know Paul George has been with us for five years I would think he’s not going to want to leave us high and dry but I don’t know I feel like I’d be a little more disrespected by the Clippers now if I’m Paul than if I was Chris Paul back in the day because when CP when happened with CP3 it was like Lob City had kind of run its course if CP3 is your best player you’re not winning a championship and that was at the point where we knew Blake Griffin wasn’t going to probably at most he’d be able to equal his 2014 production but he wouldn’t take it a step further and with Chris Paul only getting worse there was no point of really running it back especially with the warriors with KD and Steph they just looked unbeatable whereas now it’s they don’t there’s no warriors with KD and Steph it’s really wide open you saw the Mavericks make it to the finals this year you saw Denver last year the year before Golden State the year before Phoenix the year before the Lakers the year before it was Golden State so five straight years we’ve had different uh Western Conference Champs so there’s never you know if you’re the Clippers you’re not too far away if you’re can to have Kawai stay healthy so you just as as frustrating as it was for Paul George to have 19 points a game in the playoffs without kawhai a healthy kawhai will put Paul George back in his normal spot where he has more room for errror and I think just the fact that we haven’t seen that since 2021 is very frustrating those games to and three of this Dallas series don’t count that’s not the real Kawhi Leonard and anybody that’s not being obtuse knows that and admits that but the sign and trade thing it’s like they have to really come to a mutual agreement that like okay the Clippers don’t want you back for the money that you want but you can’t go the team that you want to go to they can’t sign you outright there’s a lot that has to happen before we start discussing that in my opinion some teams are some people are talking about Orlando does he want to go to Orlando they could use a wing they could use Shooters here’s the thing I don’t know if Paul George wants to be part of a young team like that like how many of these teams does Paul George even want to entertain at this stage of his career like is it really mean more to him to get an extra 50 million after I mean look how much money he’s made already an extra 50 million as opposed to staying with the Clippers and not leaving I don’t know but coming up going to be talking about what I want you might have been able to kind of put two and two the together right now but I’m going to be talking about what I want I got to tell you a little something about LinkedIn jobs when you’re hiring for your small business you want to find quality professionals that are right for the rule that’s why you have to check out LinkedIn jobs LinkedIn jobs as the tools to help find the right Professionals for your team faster and for free I’ve gotten hired 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much of a what’s the word I’m too kind to people that do big things even if they’ve done more bad than good and I truly don’t know if you could say Paul George has done more bad than good but I I just for me to to ignore what happened in 2021 with everybody giving him the most slander that I’ve seen fans give a player since LeBron’s 2011 meltdown it was crazy the way he responded the way he played for us the memories that were created in that 2021 playoff run that I’ve spoken to Clipper fans of the last couple of years they still bring that up to this day and they’re going to bring it up for many many decades to come because for anybody that doesn’t know like the Kawai stands all the stands that came they don’t know what that second round barrier meant to us they don’t know how much we used to get clowned for it by Laker fans they don’t know how much they used to hang that over our heads it felt like we legitimately could not get out of the second round like it felt like there was a curse that didn’t allow us to get out of that second round I mean what are you supposed to think when your team is 22 in a series and you have the game in the bag and then Daniel euwing comes into the game and you’re a seven-year-old kid watching Raja Bell shoot right over this guy that’s not been playing many minutes and he makes the three and The Crowd Goes insane you go to overtime and lose in the series comes to an end in seven you know it’s like damn but you felt like that was just one time then you don’t get back to that second round for another six years we had no chance in 2012 2014 we’re up eight points with a mid and a half left in the game Jamal Crawford misses a layup in and out and it all spiraled out of control I mean I remember laying on the floor of my house after watching that collapse and just being like this is rajab Bell all over again how can this happen to us with a completely different team CP3 out here throwing the ball away trying to get fouled in the back court and then the ultimate how can this happen to us 3-1 against Houston you have a better team you have a much better team you’re clapping these guys three games to one the games aren’t even close in LA and then all of a sudden in the fourth quarter when you have a double digit lead the lid just just a lid arrives on your basket you can’t make a shot Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan go like a combined 0 for eight DeAndre Ser saving the ball underneath our own basket for three three-pointers for Cory Brewer Josh Smith turns into the Josh Smith from the Atlanta Hawks like what they did that all that was Harden on the bench I mean what is that like I remember literally being on my couch that night and I was like having a damn near seizure like I was just like spazzing I was like how how could this happen like this can’t be happening it can’t be happen I just kept I literally I would I would never want to pay to see a video of myself in that moment I literally was spazzing on my couch like it was crazy so yeah don’t want to relive that obviously the 3-1 in the bubble just made it seem like this can’t we can never break out of this second round thing so when Paul George played like that I’ll be forever grateful and I don’t want to see him leave on a sour note so what I’ll say is this I don’t want to see him go for free we need to get something out of it but if we’re going to keep this team together I want to see him stay I want to see Paul George and Kawhi Leonard get a healthy playoffs together I know Paul George is flawed are you telling me James Harden isn’t flawed you think just because he gets good shooting stats he’s not flawed so yes he is flawed too they all have their flaws Paul George’s obviously didn’t play well enough in the playoffs but if we’re going to keep this team together I would like them to stay together I would obviously if we want to go a different direction that’s a different conversation but if we’re because we’re not keep them we got to keep them matter what it takes and then we even if we sign him we can trade him later and we’ll have money we won’t be losing him for nothing so that’s how I feel what I want is we keep him if we’re going to keep this team together can follow me on Twitter and Instagram at Dime dropper pod subscribe to my own YouTube channel Diamond dropper for even more LA Clip LA Sports content the agel prover continues go Clippers

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