This Paul George Situation Is Weird…

This Paul George Situation Is Weird…

so uh does anybody want Paul George because for a guy that I thought would be the most coveted actual free agent this offseason not counting Pascal seak because I expected him to go back to the Pacers not counting LeBron because I expect him to opt out and go back to the Lakers if you take those two guys out I would rank Paul George is the best free agian in the entire class yet it seems like his Market isn’t really there right now now as of today the only team that can actually sign Paul George to a contract would be the LA Clippers free agency hasn’t actually opened yet but teams are allowed to negotiate with their own free agents and considering that the Clippers have to deal with James Harden’s free agency they also signed Kawai to an extension this time last year it seems strange that they haven’t dealt with the Paul George situation yet now the rumors suggest that this is a contract length issue between Paul George and the Clippers they don’t want to give him the fourth year on a full maximum contract if they were to do that then I’m sure Paul George would have already signed the deal like I said they signed kawhai a year go to an extension and if they were willing to step up and give a competitive offer to Paul George he probably would have a contract with the Clippers right now and although I understand the Clippers hesitancy to give someone like Paul George that long of a contract on another max deal when things just haven’t gone well for them when it comes to injuries or postseason success I do find it strange that it seems like other teams around the league are hesitant to give him a big contract as well at least a long big contract because even though you have durability concerns and injury issues to deal with with Paul George he’s still an all-nba caliber player and in a free agency class that isn’t particularly strong at the top I expected him to like I said be one of the most if not the most coveted actual free agents on the market now there is an obvious answer as to why Paul George has not signed a new contract with the Clippers yet and it doesn’t even necessarily have anything to do with the contract that they have or have not offered him it’s just that he wants to go somewhere else he’s tired of the Clippers experience he’s tired of kawhai not being healthy James Harden hasn’t exactly been the most durable guy over the last 10 season nor the easiest guy to play with and I think it’s easy to see a scenario which Paul George just wants to go somewhere else on what we’ll probably be his last big contract his last chance to truly enter free agency as a coveted player and that place might be the Philadelphia 76ers it is a it is a very clean fit there in Philadelphia we’ve talked about the possibility of them getting someone like Klay Thompson but if they could get Paul George he is much better than any of their other free agency options if they want to commit to using a significant amount of their cap space on just one guy he is someone that certainly is at the top of the list to kind of bridge that gap between Maxi and embiid then they use the rest of their cap space to fill out the roster and suddenly that is a Philadelphia team that looks very very dangerous with Paul George there but then we get rumors and reports that the Sixers maybe aren’t all that into the idea of bringing in someone like Paul George and that they’re also concerned about giving out that length of a contract and this time of the year all that stuff could be smoke screens it could be to try and get Paul George on a better number it could be because they’ve already agreed basically with Paul George and they don’t want the league to think that anything’s going on there’s a hundred different reasons why that might be the case that there would be a report coming out that they’re not actually that excited about Paul George but it just seems strange to me now the other possibility for Philadelphia specifically is just that they have someone else they’d rather have they think they have a really good chance of getting ogn and Obi and they think that that is a better option for them in the long term in terms of him being younger in terms of maybe having him be a little bit cheaper not be on a full Max or they want to split up that salary cap space into a handful of players rather than just one Max guy now that goes into in contrast of what de Mor has historically done whether it be in Philadelphia or elsewhere he’s always wanted Stars so again seems strange to me that Philadelphia would be reportedly out on bringing in Paul George and apart from that when it comes to Max contract space teams which is what it would take to get Paul George away from the clippers because they’re offering him a Max just not a full four-year Max and if the Sixers aren’t willing to do the fouryear full max if you’re looking at other teams that have the cap space to make that happen that also would be contenders with Paul George on the roster there’s not that many options out there like maybe Orlando that’s really it if you think that the the magic would be a contender with Paul George there you think that it’s a decent fit whatever the case may be I personally think that is a super weird fit when you combine his on ball Creation with Paulo and fron like yes he can shoot and he can guard but that’s just a really weird combination of players and and outside of that and outside of Philadelphia it seems like the Clippers are his only option but of course that’s not actually the case because there is one other scenario here that has started to gain some steam within the NBA community and that is the possibility of an opt in and trade from Paul George where he ends up going elsewhere to a team that doesn’t have cap space to a team that would be a contender with him on the roster but they would be able to bring him in just by trading Pieces away even though they don’t have the salary cap space this would be similar to the James Harden situation last off season and importantly it is not a sign and trade because those are much more difficult to work out underneath the the cap space rules in the NBA and often in trade is much easier to work and that opens up the possibilities for Paul George immensely and there are three main teams here to keep an eye on that are always at the top of the list when you have a star player like this available first and foremost would be the New York Knicks it would be some kind of package revolving around maybe Julius Randall bogdanovich and some picks that doesn’t sound super enticing you also have the LA Lakers where it could be Austin Reeves ruy some of the other younger guys like Jaylen hood chafino on the roster and then some picks and then you have the Miami Heat which could be Jimmy Butler straight up in exchange for Paul George or if they can figure out the JB situation get him signed to an extension then they could do Tyler hero maybe Duncan Robinson and some picks if you’re not that excited about any of those possibilities it’s because they are all extremely unlikely because with the way that the rules are right now in the NBA with the second apron and all these different things it’s really difficult to trade with the Clippers and it’s especially difficult to trade with the Clippers if you are also a team that is over the second apron so even though the optin in trade is a nice other option for Paul George and the Clippers more specifically because they would get something in exchange for George it seems unrealistic and more so just a leverage point for him to try and get a deal that he wants from the Clippers or from another team now obviously there are other options in terms of potential opdat and trade teams but most of them are unrealistic in my opinion New Orleans Sacramento Memphis Golden State Like These Are teams that might be kind of close to contenders but maybe not with Paul George on the roster and that would be a significant risk for those teams to trade away legitimate Assets in exchange for a guy that has durability concerns that we’ve outlined throughout the video as well as someone that you don’t know if is actually going to make you a contender or not so realistically at the end of the day there are two options for Paul George and then maybe a third the first is the Clippers step up and they give him the full four-year Max and Paul George resigns returns to the Clippers within the next couple of days before free agency actually starts the second option is Philadelphia steps up and offers him the four-year full Max and he goes and signs with the Sixers I think that if when free agency opens if we get there if Philadelphia offers Paul George a full four-year Max contract he will be a Philadelphia 76er I think that is the only barrier between that happening if that’s actually what Philly wants to do they also have other options as we’ve discussed throughout the video but if they decide Paul George is their guy and they give him the four-year deal that the Clippers don’t want to give him he will be a sixer the third option would be that optin and trade scenario that we discussed which seems pretty unlikely and then the kind of random fourth option would be the market isn’t actually there for Paul George the Clippers don’t offer him the four-year deal and he comes back on a three-year deal with a fourth either at lower than Max or non-existent or non-guaranteed fourth-year deal for Paul George all of which to say this is a very weird situation for a player as talented as he is and as as coveted as I thought he would be with a handful of teams that do have Max Max salary cop space it is very strange in this new era of the NBA with the second apron and these more restrictive rules for teams trading away players it is a very strange market and situation right now around Paul George

Paul George SHOULD be the biggest name in NBA free agency right now, but between the LA Clippers and the Philadelphia 76ers, nobody seems to want him.

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