Paul George Has Made A Decision…

Paul George Has Made A Decision…

NBA free agency this off season was always going to start and end with Paul George where was he going to go what was he going to do we’ve gone through all these different scenarios over the last couple of days him opting in and then requesting a trade teams like the Warriors teams like the Lakers these teams have been thrown around but we had to start with step one and that was whether or not Paul George was going to accept or decline his player option and he has made his decision Paul George as of this moment is officially a free agent ahead of free agency starting tomorrow which means that we at least know a a little bit more about what exactly is going to happen with this guy now the reason that this is important is because at this point the options in terms of where Paul George is going to play next season have shrunk because prior to him making this Choice there was another option out there and that was him picking up his contract for next season with the intent to be traded he was not going to opt into his contract for next year under any scenario other than being traded and he talked about not he talked about but it’s been reported that he would like to stay on the west coast so team like Golden State teams like Sacramento have been thrown around as possible options for Paul George should he not find an opportunity that he likes in free agency and as a way to put a little bit more pressure on the Clippers to give him the contract that he wants it’s the only reason we’ve gotten to this point is because the Clippers haven’t given Paul George a contract offer that he likes and that optin and trade scenario felt very real it was going to be difficult to actually make happen because it’s just a complicated situation where the Clippers have to work on trades then then Paul George drops into his contract and then they actually make that trade happen but now we move forward with Paul George as a full 100% complete unrestricted free agent he can technically sign anywhere he wants to obviously in terms of teams out there with cap space to sign Paul George to what will presumably be a three or a fouryear Max his options are more limited Orlando San Antonio and primarily Philadelphia those are the teams on the list right now for Paul George in terms of guys in terms of teams I should say that can actually offer him that full Max the only reason this has gotten to this point is because the Clippers have not been willing to give Paul George a 4-year full Max and even throughout the day today there are reports that even with the possible scenario of him opting into his contract and then wanting to be traded somewhere else or him potentially leaving in free agency they haven’t felt pressured to this point to offer him the 4-year full Max so now he’s going to have some options and before we get into what I think is actually going to happen prediction stuff like that it’s important to understand why exactly this is a big deal the entire free agency market is essentially waiting on what Paul George decides because these teams that do have cap space Oklahoma City although they don’t have the full Max does have a lot of cap space Orlando San Antonio Philadelphia handful of other teams they’re all waiting to see if they can either get Paul George or see what team gets him because there are other players out there players like cavius cwell Pope players like Klay Thompson that fill not similar roles necessarily as Paul George but fill similar spots on your roster and those guys might either get a little bit cheaper if one of the free agency teams uh takes on Paul George because that’s one or less team that they could potentially have to bid against or if he returns to the Clippers it can make those guys even more expensive if a team like Philadelphia suddenly realizes hey we didn’t get Paul George now we got to give Klay Thompson 40 a year we got to give kcp 25 to 30 a year those are all real uh potential outcomes of this and that’s why the Paul George thing has been so important and I would expect that he is going to be one of the first dominoes to fall late tomorrow now in terms of predictions I’ve been relatively confident this entire time that Paul George was going to return to the clippers because I didn’t think that the market out there was going to be significant for him outside of Philadelphia and over the last few days although there’s been conflicting reports it doesn’t seem like they are necessarily going all in on Paul George they wanted to try and maybe make a run someone like Gog and and Obi first uh there’s been some Klay Thompson interest maybe it’s kcp and someone else because at least those are those are tradable pieces there’s something about Paul George that reportedly is scaring off the Sixers and without that piece without Philadelphia firmly in the mix to sign him as a free agent the Clippers know that they have a lot of Leverage they know that it’s unlikely that Paul George is going to want to go to Orlando and trust that that might be a winning contending situation and certainly it’s a question mark whether he would want to go to a team like San Antonio and apart from those teams he’d have to take a pay cut to go to OKC and the whole reason that he wants to leave the Clippers or potentially would leave the Clippers in the first place is because of a contract issue so taking a p had to go to OKC doesn’t seem realistic so I’ve been confident this whole time it’s probably going to be the Clippers just because there’s a lack of Leverage out there it’s kind of like the James Harden situation last off season where he had the option to opt out of his contract but then didn’t because the team that he thought was going to be his leverage in getting a contract Houston suddenly didn’t want him anymore and there’s a lot of parallels here where there’s one team out there that can really put the pressure on the incumbent team in that case it was Philadelphia uh in this case of course it’s the Clippers on the incumbent team trying to figure out okay we might actually lose this guy for nothing and at this point it feels like the Clippers have not felt all that threatened that Paul George is actually going to leave the state of California and go all the way to the east coast and play for a Philly team that yes is very good but may not even want him may not even be offering him a better contract than what the Clippers are and that’s what it comes down to for me I think it’s 40% the the the Sixers I think it’s 55% the Clippers and like 5% Orlando that’s how i’ break it down right now in terms of How likely it is that Paul George ends up in each spot and that 40% for Philly that all depends on one whether they want him and two whether they’re willing to offer him a four-year full Max I said this in a previous video if the Philadelphia 76ers go in a free agency they go to Paul George and say hey here is a full four-year Max contract I think he’s a 76er the question is whether they’re going to be willing to do that and if they were willing to do that and if Clippers thought that was a possibility they probably would have been a little bit more desperate to bring back Paul George which is why ultimately I do think he’s going to stay with the Clippers now if I was in Philadelphia’s shoes and I’m dealing with an aging Joel embiid who still an MVP calber player and and trying to add a significant piece this offseason I’d be willing to give Paul George the full four-year max if it meant getting him away from the clippers because my other options in free agency include some of the guys we’ve already talked about Malik monk is gone so we’re looking at kcp Klay Thompson handful of other guys just kind of patching these contracts together and that’s just going to be a tough sell not only to the fans but to embiid trying to put together supposed to be a contending team next year adding you know Klay Thompson kcp like one of those guys and a couple of other pieces rather than bringing in someone like Paul George and at the end of the day this whole situation might just be leveraged for PG to try and get the best contract he can from the Clippers he might have no intention of actually leaving he’s just opting out so that he can get the best deal from them and he’s trying to use Philadelphia as leverage that’s absolutely a possibility and if there was another team like if for whatever reason the Lakers or the Warriors or the Kings had cap space to be able to sign George I think it’d be much more likely that he would have already had a contract to stay with the clippers because they would have actually felt pressured to retain him however under this scenario in which the Clippers actually lose Paul George for nothing they go through this entire situation they play hard ball with him they don’t want to give him the full contract that he wants they don’t facilitate the optin and trade and they lose Paul George for nothing keep in mind they still have to sign James hard in this offseason as well it would be say what you want about 34y old Paul George having to give him the full Max all this stuff it would be an absolute disaster for the Clippers they don’t have draft pick uh flexibility to to break things down and trade guys away they would just actively be a worst team as they go into their new building next year and they were points during the year when those three guys kawhai PG and Harden were all healthy that they looked like one of the best teams in the conference and that will not be the case if Paul George is in a different uniform next season so as of this moment my expectation is that Paul George is still going to be with the clippers but if he does sign with the Sixers that that’s obviously a a massive deal and that’s that’s going to be the first domino effect here of what’s going to happen the rest of the way if we start free agency tomorrow and the Sixers sign kcp or Klay Thompson to 20 $25 million a year deal or even you know in excess of that that basically means that Paul George is staying until Philadelphia has used up their cap space Paul George leaving the Clippers is a real possibility once they do he’s lost all Ever So This Is A Dangerous Game for the Clippers potentially losing him it’s also a dangerous game for Paul George in terms of trying to get that full contract and I honestly thought the optin in trade scenario would be a little bit more likely at this point because it seems like Philadelphia is just out on Paul George but now we wait and see uh exactly who is ready to step up and give this guy a big contract

Paul George has decided to opt out of his player option for the LA Clippers next season, opening up the possibility of him signing in free agency with the Philadelphia 76ers, Orlando Magic, San Antonio Spurs, and more.

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