EMERGENCY POD: Paul George opts out of contract, Sixers now in play

EMERGENCY POD: Paul George opts out of contract, Sixers now in play

[Music] well on a Saturday evening Welcome to the phly Sixers podcast along with Derek botner Kyle newbeck I’m Devon given as we get some some news we were waiting on the 29th to find out when Paul George makes his decision whether he opts in opts out well we get the uh information just a short time ago that he is in fact opting out of his final year of his deal with the Los Angeles Clippers becoming an unrestricted free agent and making free agency all that more interesting as things get underway on Sunday beginning at 6 PM so Derek starting with you man as we have this emergency conversation with all the folks out there your initial thoughts uh when the news broke yeah it’s I mean initial thoughts were like finally you finally made a decision uh we had been waiting around all day uh not that you expected it to come before a decision but I’m you know I’m happy we finally have a little bit of clarity on where to go forward second thought was I think the Sixers have a real good chance I don’t know exactly what that means I think their biggest threat right now is him going back to the Clippers I know the common sentiment will be that well they haven’t offered it to them now why would they uh going forward but when you get to a deadline you tend to find get to your make or break point find where your real limit is um will they cave will Balmer cave I don’t know so I’m not entirely sure what the Sixers percentage chance is but I think it’s pretty strong uh and that would be my I guess third reaction yeah I so to me this this means he will only be playing in one of two places next year would be my Reon it’s either he goes and stays at home stays with the Clippers they up the Annie they give him another year they give him more money the contract that as DK alluded to they haven’t been willing to give him and the perfect example of why of people being deadline motivated is that we were waiting until 4:45 on Saturday the last 15 minutes that Paul George could decide on this option for Paul George to decide on his well now the ball is in the Clippers Court and so they are going to have to make their decision and you know if La turns around and says look everything we’ve said so far about what we’re willing to offer it’s changed We Believe Philly is a real threat then you know I think with when push comes to shove all things being equal Paul George would stay home yes but at this point being this deep into the process I have much less belief that the Clippers are going to do that and so I feel I’m not gonna said I think he’s coming here but I feel pretty confident that they’re right there like the the balls at the the 10 yard line right now and they have a legitimate shot to get Paul George here we’ve said like this has been sort of at the top of their list throughout the off season because of the fact that they’re the only team that has contending aspirations that can sign him out right like I haven’t given any serious Credence to a team like Orlando certainly not Detroit certainly not San Antonio and now that you’ve wiped away the opportunity for someone like Golden State to trade for him and I think that was probably the most credible threat the last let’s say four or five days or so we heard about I just think this comes down to two teams and if you’re battling against a team that yes he does love playing there and yes I I do think there’s a good shy returns there but you’re battling against a team that has shown they don’t really want to go to that fourth year and they don’t really want to go to that top dollar amount if they’re really only willing to go three years $150 million $70 million buys you a lot of real estate on the East Coast like that’s a huge huge difference and I agree with Kyle I think this pretty much takes Golden State out of the running uh as a reminder if you acquire a player in a sign and trade deal then you are hard capped at that $178 million first apron if you start looking up and down Golden State roster sheet and salary cap sheet I don’t know how they would possibly manage that their Hope was that he would opt in the final year of the contract be traded to Golden State and then in six months extend him after that uh since that hasn’t happened I think that has given the Sixers a a really strong position here uh we mentioned a couple days ago that you know maybe coming into June like a couple weeks ago the six thought maybe thought they had a 40% chance maybe that dropped at 10% after some of those recent reports back now we’re back up to at least 40 possibly the highest percent I probably definitely the highest percentage chance it’s ever been is it over 50% is it anything close to certainty I certainly wouldn’t say it’s close to a certainty but I think they’re at a really strong spot and the other day when we made our predictions and we were just thrown out there hypothetically what we thought might happen and the News had already started to come out that he might really decide to opt in look for that sign of trade you both mentioned Golden State as the threat and that was the one that I really thought would uh would be a possibility of him deciding to stay on the west coast is close enough for his family to still get to watch get to them to watch their games and that will work out for him he can still get what he wants he’s still playing with another Superstar and and Seth Curry but now that he decided on this and as you guys have already talked about waiting to the ex last few minutes of the deadline to to get this thing done and make the decision that yeah you have to consider that the 76ers are in a really really good spot and of course we’ve I’ve seen reports I’m sure you guys have seen reports we’ve talked about this ourselves where people have seen Daryl Mor on the flight to to LA and is he having conversations with Paul George and the one thing that could very well be true that they are looking to have some conversations right away with him but most agents and players are on the west coast uh in the summertime as they decide to get away from their respective cities go out there and work out and just kind of relax a little bit so I just wanted to make sure I pointed that part out but right now we were talking about the 10% yesterday and as you said Derek uh yes it does clearly look like that 76ers you know have a really good shot of pushing it back to that 40 maybe even higher percentage of of signing him so if if we look at this right now with him and we try to figure it all out with him we’re also seeing some other reports out there about the Utah Jazz and Lowry marketing could that still be a possibility W saying some things that they’ll at least feel caus with the with the Utah Jazz and we did have a super chat that we have from our friend uh UK B fan 01 Kyle is the Utah are taking calls for Lowry and quote true I would love Dar to trade for Lowry thanks for the Emergency pot so real quick before I get to that I do want to know uh the Golden State Factor here is really important because they are now effectively eliminated everything that golden state did and Signal the last few days said they really want to get Paul George like to the point that it seemed seems that they pissed off Klay Thompson right like they’re saying I’m not sure pissing off clay at this point yeah I mean but but look so you you piss him off more but they pushed Chris Paul’s option deadline back by I think it was only like two days but they pushed it back specifically for this scenario they they telegraphed to just about everyone that’s why this option decision is happening is because of Paul George and so that team that specific team being eliminated by this decision is a massive deal where it puts them into this basically two horse race for for Paul George so on the Markin in front I I certainly think the Sixers have done and will continue to do their due diligence as by the way Shams just tweeted the Warriors are preparing to lose Klay Thompson in free agency it’s a report from him and Anthony Slater so all coming Fast and Furious Boys on a uh a hot Saturday in in June on the marketing front I know they are admirers of marketing in the Sixers working organization the the Crux has been for a long time while he’s either just completely not getable or he’s not getable at a reasonable price and I don’t know this for a fact but I think if you’re making it an either or and Derek I believe you said they theoretically could do both here but it would be and I yeah just theoretically not likely I want to be clear on that it’s borderline impossible making saying it fits under the cap not it is actually practical yeah so I think the Sixers certainly are in contact right like Danny a and Daryl M have had a relationship for quite a long time so if something falls through on the Paul George front if the Clippers is up their offer I would bet you they will involved in conversations there as they are elsewhere I wouldn’t say it’s the most likely option at this point and frankly look if you’re asking me what I think Daryl mury would do or prioritize if it comes down to those two things I think he would go after Paul George one because you’re only using cap space to get him two because I think there are just fewer questions about Paul as a fit between those guys and you know the work that’s left to be done then somebody like Markin who while he’s got more room to grow and is younger and is a great skill set fit I think there’s still more projection to be done as it relates to you know what does this look like in the playoffs and all that kind of stuff yeah I think uh two things um first of all I if marinin was truly on the market I don’t think like necessarily A lot has changed with Markin in in Utah I think Danny probably saw what Bridges got and went whoa I can get even more than that I think and he’s testing the market that’s how Danny a operates so if you go under that assumption then it would take literally everything the Sixers have and even that I think either I’m not even sure if that gets done because either some other team beats it or Danny just goes all right I’m keeping them I’m not sure the Sixers even if they empty the cupboard Danny’s crazy I don’t think his asking price has dropped is the way I would phrase it if anything I think his asking price because of the bridg trade has gone up because there’s one fewer you know young star or quasi star on the market and you know the Baseline price has increased so I think if you’re reading this the the report as marketing might be more getable now than he previously was I’d probably go the other way and say Markin in might be might cost more than he previously did and the other thing is if you did sign Pete Paul George and then trade for market and into your cap space a hypothetical light out technically it would work this year the problem is when you have to give Market in that next contract you become a second apron team real quick and it would be almost impossible to avoid that and also you now have zero draft picks to trade it would be an Inc you would have four players and minimum contracts for like the next four years it would be really really tough to navigate I would be surprised if Daryl Mo would have interest in trying to navigate that it was more like a fun hypothetical not a real thing and those four players be pretty good they be really good um the other thing I would say is like I said if you’re asking should the Sixers pursue marinin over Paul George I just don’t think even with that new report I don’t think marinan is a realistic Target I would like I said I think he either stays in Utah or some other team is able to out bid the Sixers we have a few more Super chats running in here and I start with our friend holy canoli Derek I’ll ask you first are we at risk of losing other free agents tomorrow like kcp even UB waiting for Paul George’s decision is Ingram still an option if we lose George I mean all of that depends on how long they wait and how long Paul George takes makes it ision yeah there’s always a threat like there’s always a threat other players sign there’s always a player a threat that uh they could trade Ingram before it happens like sure it’s a threat I I don’t know if I know Paul George’s head space enough to know whether or not he will make a decision quickly I don’t know if I if there’s another trade with New Orleans where Ingram could be close to being traded I don’t know any of that but yeah it’s certainly a threat for sure uh one piece of context here I told I was talking to Devon about before the show Chris Haynes over a Bacha report was talking about this shortly before we went live and said his impression is that this should be resolved relatively quickly that you know Paul George is willing to give the Clippers an opportunity to say all right we’re gon to come up and meet you but maybe that it won’t necessarily drag out but I agree with what Derek said is that there’s absolutely risk if you make some one guy and this is one big guy a priority there are other guys who are going to say I got to go get my money my long-term security and my fit so always a risk Bernard McCoy with the Super Chat I hope they get him because if he takes a few days to decide and stays with the Clippers and kcp signs elsewhere we are screwed I wouldn’t quite go that far but it’s it’s a conundrum right if you wait let’s say this plays out over the next week right I think there have been some pretty historic sign ings over the Fourth of July and Fourth of July weekend in NBA history some big moments on that front especially for the guys that are up at at this level but that’s the risk you take man like we all know Mory is a a star hunter he’s going after a real third guy and so I think he would probably tell you if he’s being honest he’s willing to risk losing out on some roll guys to try to go get the big fish and uh this podcast again here with the fellas Kyle newbeck Derek Bodner Devon Gib Brian is producing is brought to you by our good friends with our draft coverage and now our free agency coverage getting under way for this week our good friends from Rothman orthopedics tone cudy says what kind of role players can we afford after signing PG I mean you’d have about 12 million left to work with whatever role players you think can fit into there well the we will have a long ass show tomorrow we can talk about stuff like that um but you would have time to tease that yeah 12 to 13 million left in space um that’s what you have to work with and tomorrow our show will begin assuming Paul George isn’t or not Paul George Paul Reed isn’t brought back right uh our show tomorrow 5: P PM right here on PHL 6ers podcast we will have our free agency frenzy our phly 6 podcast free agency frenzy beginning at 5:00 pm to kind of set the scene hopefully things don’t take very long it happens pretty quickly once the uh the moratorium then opens at 6 pm. and we start to hear some news pretty quickly there we’ll keep going Rich Hoffman will join us as well as we get together with you on a Sunday in in late June hanging out with all of you to talk little Hoops Corey asks couldn’t we have beaten the price Portland play paid Kyle for Denny ABIA yes in theory but again so the there was still un certainty with this Paul George situation until about an hour ago like there was a real around the league people were treating the Golden State Warriors as a serious threat to trade for him and not just them there were others I know I can’t remember who reported it might have been Sam amch Maybe Mark Stein I forgive me whoever actually reported this they said Denver has kicked around the idea of potentially trading for Paul George If he if he opts in now that trade would have cost them someone like Michael Porter Jr would have cost them another like a series of picks whatever that ends up being but there were a lot of teams that were theoretically in the mix so the Sixers their operating belief here was like let’s wait and see what happens here and then we make our move so it clearly there was a higher priority in Portland and on Washington’s end to make the Denny trade but yeah I mean if if they could have gotten Paul locked up and known that with confidence and then swing a trade for a role player that I think makes a lot of sense on basically any team trying to win you would have loved that all right run through a few more because people are running in here with us enjoying this emergency p uh Mr Sandman says I love marketing but is he a Nick nurse kind of player I I think Nick nurse is adaptable enough where if you give him a star role player and I think marinin would be maybe not in the traditional sense maybe not in the bridg sense in terms of being a two-way player but a guy who can really really really open up the floor for both of your two superstars I think Nick nurse will Embrace that like Nick nurse isn’t gonna send you know Larry Markin in to the bench because he’s not like you know not making enough connective passes or not hustling enough to get deflections on defense like he’s going to be on the floor don’t worry which again I don’t think I don’t think six have a realistic chance but theoretically he was would be I Nick nurse would find a way he’d find a way you know what Nick nurse and Daryl Mory both love guys who make lots of threes except for most of his tenure in Toronto but I blame that on MSI not I was gonna say if we look at uh look at the roster they continue to build there I think I’d put that on the other guy but yeah I I don’t think Nick nurse would look at marinin and say boy sure sucks to have that guy next to another Super Chat PG called their Clippers are going to fold and pay him with that new stadium plus I rather we go the role player route that’s from our good buddy Brian Pumper not pumped up about Paul George huh and listen guys we will get into the full you know the fit with Paul George him versus some of these other options all that this was more we just wanted to chat with you for a few minutes talk to you about where we’re where our heads are at ahead of tomorrow and remind you guys we will be live at 5:00 pm on Sunday ahead of free agency as it starts at six o’clock and then presumably as the news starts to fly at 6 PM we’ll be locked and loaded ready to go 601 baby tomorrow a lot of news already out there LeBron James opted out the Memphis Grizzly declining Luke canard’s con uh contract Orlando same thing with Mo Vagner isah Joe you got to include him in that Evan fornier we’ve seen his name where they they’re declining his all kinds of stuff that’s out there that we will get into tomorrow and discuss it all with you beginning at 5:00 pm a lot to discuss in regards to the Sixers and their free agency path a lobo with Derek eat a basketball if the Sixers due trade for low remarketing still have to figure out the shoe part but basketball that’s not basketball I I I did not get that prediction wrong oh wait the shoe was the recent one right the shoe was the one I skated away from basketball was from a couple years ago no I’m not eating basketball it’s not all right Chris Evans if the Clippers resign can they still fit Harden if Harden takes a certain amount of money sure I’m sure he will I’m sure they will I me they will have long-term concerns with regards to the aprons for sure and I’m I think that’s part of why they’re hesitating um but then again they’re seemingly willing to offer a three-year deal I don’t know if that would be out of Max um but it seems like the fourth year is a sticking point but shortterm longterm they’re going to have troubles for sure all right Derek Kyle Bri appreciate it I’m Devon given will’ll be back with you one more Rich Hoffman you have another one Oh’s another one I didn’t even see that one my bad is there any way that the 76ers can get Paul George and just trade empty our draft picks for markeing we did talk about the me to win now with him beating his prime any chance we did talk about that um just a quickly recap yes it’s theoretically possible it’s practically implausible in large part because uh when you have no more cap space left you have no more draft picks left you have four players and maybe you bring back Kelly or Nico on the room mid level and that’s it that’s all you have and then long term when you extend marketin you’re going to be up against second apron pretty much every year you’re going to have four guys and minimum contracts pretty much every year it would be really really tough and also you still have to outbid the market for marinin and offer enough for Danny a to say yes you have to do both it’s not like they’re just auctioning marketing right now so you have to outbid the market and you have to have Danny a say yes I think all of that makes it an extreme long shot hey by the way one more before we get out of here Dave mcmean over at ESPN floated this the idea that LeBron could take a pay cut and included this sentence the type of player James would be willing to make a financial sacrifice for would be an established veteran playmaker like James Harden or Klay Thompson or an established big man to play alongside Anthony Davis sources told ESPN so that would be one of the craziest after all this with James not getting the money here going to La you think they’re going to have the the three guys The Three core dudes in with the Clippers PG leaving kawhai signing to be there long term and then they don’t pay PG he goes to Philly and then James Harden takes like the mle from the Lakers would be one of the wildest series of events I could even make up in my head so I will be keeping an eye on that for pack your bags D’Angelo Russell because it’s happening with James Harden all right folks this was uh this uh 20 plus minute conversation on a Saturday was brought to you by Rothman orth Pedic here on the phiy 6es podcast for Derek Kyle Briana I’m Devon we’ll talk to you tomorrow at 5:00 pm along with Rich Hoffman buckle up everybody because uh it’s gonna be a fun one tomorrow Sixers off season getting underway we’ll discuss it all tomorrow here on the phiy 6es podcast thank you subscribe y cting like the mayor

Paul George opted out of the final year of his deal with the Los Angeles Clippers, setting the stage for a potential move to Philadelphia if the Sixers can convince him to join Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey.
Devon Givens, Derek Bodner, and Kyle Neubeck discuss a massive free agency development.