Paul George Just Explained EVERYTHING…

Paul George Just Explained EVERYTHING…

just to put it out there like I never wanted to leave LA right initially I was not trying to leave La the biggest story of this NBA offseason has been Paul George a guy that the Clippers traded a ton of stuff for five years ago a guy that always wanted to be in La that kawhai asked for when he went to the Clippers he said go get that guy I want to play with Paul George him just leaving for the Sixers in free agency and keep in mind this is a guy in Paul George that in the past straight up told teams like the Pacers I’m leaving get something in exchange for me because I’m going to leave in free agency we never really got those kinds of indicators from him yet he left anyway and to me that meant that something had to have happened in the negotiations between the Clippers and Paul George because it didn’t seem like a situation that he wanted to leave and I’ve been trying to figure out what exactly went wrong how did we get here because what the Clippers told us in a statement was they basically blamed the CBA for why they weren’t able to retain Paul George they didn’t want to have limited flexibility with their roster they wanted to limit their payroll underneath the second apron and that’s the reason that Paul George is no longer a Clipper they just blamed the CBA but that never really made sense to me because we know that they offered Paul George a contract that would have put them in the second apron for the next couple of Seasons then I hear wind of like you know what they’re going to give Kawai I’m like just give me what Kawai got like right y’all view us the same so again how did all this happened on his very own podcast in a episode that I would encourage you guys to go check out George went in depth on exactly what where wrong with the negotiations with the Clippers and the first thing that he points out is something that we already knew he never wanted to leave the Clippers prior to actually entering free agency his intentions were always to remain in LA to play alongside kawhai to play alongside James Harden to try and continue to push for contention coming off of a very strong season for him personally he played 74 games put up pretty good numbers and again they didn’t have the playoff success that they wanted to but it once again came down to the health of the roster with kawhai missing time just to put it out there like I never wanted to leave LA right initially I was not trying to leave LA but as things progressed it became clear to him that he was going to have to consider some other options because of something else that we knew something else that was reported the Clippers were never going to take this negotiation between not only Paul George but also Kawhi Leonard the way that they had in the past they were going to take a different mindset where it wasn’t just going to be those guys show up they ask for the full Max over the maximum number of years and then the Clippers just give them the deal they were never going to just go along with that plan these were going going to be true legitimate negotiations where the Clippers were going to fully evaluate the value that Kawhi Leonard and Paul George healthy or not provided to their franchise which meant they weren’t just going to give them what Paul George ultimately got with the Sixers which was a 4-year full Max but the extent that the Clippers took that to at least according to George got kind of extreme he tells us that the very first offer that he got from the Clippers before the season right as the season started was2 years and $60 million so the first initial deal was like 2 years 60 so I’m like whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa now you can think whatever you want to about Paul George but there’s pretty much no scenario in which you’re the Clippers you’re negotiating with Paul George and you don’t really see that as a disrespectful offer if you’re Paul George yeah there’s injury issues you can maybe not be a huge fan of him but he’s still an all NBA caliber player and to give him that limited security while also having the number per year be so low was just never going to go well and arguably set off the entire chain of events that follow and I can understand if you’re the Clippers that you’re frustrated about the lack of playoff success you’re frustrated about these guys not being on the floor but if you’re going to offer Paul George 2 years 60 you might as well just not offer him anything and to be fair this is only according to George himself in terms of what actually happened now George Goes On to say that over the next couple of months they incrementally increased their offer to the point where they got to like in the mid 40s per year but now we get to the point where the timeline of all of this is really important because in January of 2024 before the All-Star break kawi Leonard signs a new extension with the Clippers it’s 3 years and $152 million in the first year of the deal it’s the $52 million Max and in the following two years of the deal kawhai is getting paid $50 million a year and at the same time because they’re on the exact same timeline contract wise the Clippers are also negotiating with Paul George and at the time that Kawai gets this deal Paul George reportedly according to him goes to the Clippers and says okay just give me the Kawai deal I was like if why gonna take less I’m not GNA say I want more than why it’s not about me being paid more than him like I’mma take what he got y’all give him that give me that they didn’t want to do that now according to George when he went to the Clippers and said hey give me the same deal you just gave Kawai they said no which to me seems a little strange now granted all of this seems a little strange when you go back to the 2-year $60 million offer which I’ll just never get over if it’s actually true if you’re in the Clipper situation and you want to extend kawh Leonard at 3 years 152 Kawai is way more of a risk from an injury perspective than PG is so why would you not want PG at 3 years 152 if you want Kawai on 3 years 152 now the counter to that is the ceiling of who Kawai is and who he showed to be at times during the year is higher than what Paul George is but when you even that out with some of the injury risk I don’t understand why they wouldn’t be willing to give Paul George the exact same contract they gave kawhai because ultimately that was their goal because they didn’t want to give Paul George the fourth year and ultimately that’s why he left so later on they end up offering Paul George the same deal that they gave Kawai why didn’t they give it to him at the time in January but according to Paul George they didn’t want to give him that deal they were still trying to negotiate him on a number that was lower than what they gave Kawai and at that point for him the negotiations were just over he no longer wanted to deal with this in the middle of the year his goal was still to remain with the Clippers he still wasn’t actively looking at free agency options however it didn’t seem like it was useful or helpful or productive to have these conversations with the Clippers in the middle of the year they were going to table it until the offseason so I’m like you know what I don’t want like don’t even let’s not even have no more conversation then we get to the off season and this is where things truly break down between George and the clippers because he has a really good season he plays 74 games like I talked about the numbers are good if you’re concerned about injuries if you’re concerned about health he played almost every single game and certainly more games than he had been in the prior years so you would expect the Clippers are going to feel a little bit more comfortable with their offer and according to George they came back to him and said okay we will give you the kawhai deal we’ll give you the same contract we just gave Kawai and Paul George was okay with that season in I finished healthy so now we going to negotiation now they now they bring it to 3 years 150 so basically around what they gave Kawai keep in mind Paul George left the Sixers for four years 212 and the reason that he left is because they didn’t give him the fourth year but according to George after the season they offered him the kawhai deal and he was okay with accepting that deal a deal that he was also so okay with accepting according to himself back in January when Kawai took the deal as well so at this point you’re probably wondering if Paul George wanted the three-year deal in January the Clippers said no then we get to the off season and the Clippers are willing to give him the kawhai deal why is Paul George not a Clipper anymore well this is where you got to read between the lines a little bit because according to George the conversations that were being had between him and the Clippers were that they weren’t going to trade him they wanted to keep him there long term they wanted to sign him to the three-year deal we want you to be here we want you to be a Clippers your whole career and that was important to him he wanted to maintain control over his situation because once he signs the three-year deal if the Clippers decide to trade him for whatever reason he has to go play for the team that he has been traded to and he loses out an opportunity to pick his spot which is what free agency represents he could decline his option not talk to the Clippers anymore and technically go play wherever he wanted to so it was important to him that he had assurances that the Clippers were not going to trade him and in the meetings they kept saying we’re not going to trade you we want you here long term it’s why you’re signing the deal but George wanted to take a step further and ask for something that only two players in the league currently have and that is a no trade clause LeBron has it and Bradley Beal has it uh famously and that’s one of the reasons why the Wizards got basically nothing in exchange for Bradley Beal so George Goes from saying in January I’ll take the kawhai deal 3 years 150 to the Clippers saying no to the offseason Clippers saying okay now we’ll give you the kawhai deal and then Paul George saying okay but give me the no trade clause and at that point the Clippers say we’ll give you the Kawai deal we’re not giving you the no trade clause give me the three years 150 no trade then like no trade CLA then I now like I’m taking less but at least I know I’m here they didn’t want to do the no trade do that now clearly there’s some other details here being left out and the truth is probably somewhere in between right because George just said Hey in January I would have taken the kawhai deal and then they offered it to him and he said no because he wanted the no trade clause now part of that probably has to do with the relationship breaking down and and how things kind of worked during a negotiation where things just got a little bit more hostile towards the offseason so then at that point Paul George goes back to them and says okay I don’t have to have the no trade clause but give me the full fouryear Max give me the fourth year give me the 212 give me the contract that he ultimately ends up with in Philadelphia those are your two options give me the three years 150 with a no trade or give me the four years 212 and that’s it well then it only makes sense for me to do four years 212 they a want to do that and at that point it becomes clear that Paul George is no longer going to be a member of the LA Clippers because they don’t want to give him the no trade and they don’t want to give him the four years and they assume that they’re going to be able to bring him back regardless and that his options out there in free agency aren’t going to that enticing to him until ultimately the Sixers give him the 4 years 212 he has a great meeting with the Sixers according to himself and ultimately that’s how he leaves the Clippers and what I find interesting about all this and I’m hopeful we get more details on eventually is what happened between January and June because if in January Paul George was okay with the three years 150 no mention of the no trade clause from him at the time if he’s okay with the kawh deal in January and the Clippers say no and then they come back and say okay we’ll give you the three years 150 in between January and June did he realize that Philadelphia was a real possibility did he realize that he has actual leverage out there in free agency because according to him he never really considered free agency up until that point but he realized hey either I’m going to get the deal I want from the Clippers using this leverage or there opportunities out there like Philadelphia maybe he hears something from Daryl Mor hears something from jol embid hey man like it would be cool we have the cap space just keep an eye out and then between January and June he realizes that he has this leverage of having the 4 years 212 offer out there and so at that point he feels comfortable asking for the no trade on the three years 150 or for the four four years 212 all of this is extremely interesting to me and I hope it is to you because it really gives us a full inside look on Paul George’s perspective on how this all went down with the Clippers as well as they could have had this deal done in January according to George at least they could have had Kawai and PG on the same contract on the same timeline which is what they always wanted to and not have the four years on it and they decided not to and so we’ll see how ultimately that affects the franchise long term but this is certainly very enlightening in terms of what exactly happened between the Clippers and Paul George

Paul George left for the Philadelphia 76ers in free agency, leaving the LA Clippers… and he just explained everything on why he left.

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