Paul George on joining Philadelphia 76ers: I wanted LA Clippers stay before 'disrespectful' contract offer
By Raj Mahil
Published 09/07/2024 at 11:10 GMT+1
New Philadelphia 76ers superstar Paul George has lifted the lid on his exit from the Los Angeles Clippers, revealing he was prepared to accept the same terms as Kawhi Leonard in order to stay in Southern California. After five years in LA, George has moved to the East Coast in search of a career-first NBA title - and a four-year max contract.
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Paul George has detailed his failed negotiations with the Los Angeles Clippers, insisting he would've accepted the same deal offered to Kawhi Leonard.
The LA native spent the last five seasons with the Clippers, making the postseason in three of those. The closest they came to a championship run was in 2021, falling to the Phoenix Suns in the Western Conference Finals.
'PG-13' also appeared as an NBA All-Star three times during his stint with the Clippers, before bringing down the curtain this summer by opting out of his player option of $48.7 million for one year.
Instead, he tested the waters in free agency, and signed for the Philadelphia 76ers last week. With that move, he secured the four-year max contract he was looking for, at $212m ($53m per season).
His fellow superstar with the Clippers, Leonard, penned a new $153m deal ($51m per season) earlier this year - and George has now revealed he wanted the same in order to keep the band together.
The 34-year-old said on his show, Podcast P: "Just to put it out there, I never wanted to leave LA.
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"As it played out though, the first initial deal was, I thought, kind of disrespectful... like two years, $60m. So I'm like, 'whoa, whoa, whoa, no, I'm not signing that'. This was maybe October-ish.
"As we kept going, it was like they would go up inches, inches, inches to where it was like $44-45m [per year] but this was a couple months in between before we got it to $40m something. So I'm still like, 'nah, I'm not doing that'.
"Then I hear wind of what they're going to give Kawhi so I'm like, 'just give me what Kawhi got. Y'all view us the same. We came here together, we want to finish this s*** together. I'll take what Kawhi got'.
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"[After the season ends] they bring it to three years, $150m. So a part of me was still like, all right cool. It sucks that it had to get to this point, that we couldn't get this figured out a lot sooner but now we can have a conversation.
"They're like 'we want you here long-term, when you're retired we want you to be a Clipper for a lifetime', all of this stuff. So I'm like, 'cool, give me the three years, $150m, no-trade then'. They didn't want to do no trade.
"So then I'm like, 'all right, well then it only makes sense for me to do four years, $212m. At least pay me my money. They didn't want to do that."
George is now linking up with former NBA MVP Joel Embiid and fellow All-Star Tyrese Maxey, to form a new 'big three' with the 76ers. In doing so, the trio are looking to win the first NBA titles of their careers.
On their prospects of a championship run following the signing of George, Embiid told ESPN: "On paper, the fit looks fantastic because you got both guys that can play off the ball, they can play on the ball, they're great shooters and they can handle the ball - and then you also got me."
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