Clippers Not Yet Extending Paul George Has Sparked Mystery Around Their Plans

The Los Angeles Clippers were widely expected to sign Paul George to a contract extension fairly soon after they reached agreement on a three-year, $152.4 million deal with Kawhi Leonard earlier this year. With George about to become a free agent and expected to receive a four-year max offer from at least the Philadelphia 76ers, the fact he hasn’t signed an extension yet with the Clippers has become a puzzling situation. 

George’s cleanest path to a new team would be to the Sixers or Orlando Magic as they both have enough cap space to sign him outright. An opt-in-and-trade scenario would open up other options for George such as the New York Knicks or Miami Heat.

“I want to talk about the Clippers real quick,” said Brian Windhorst on First Take on Thursday morning. “The Clippers are doing something very fascinating right now and I don’t fully understand what it is. You do not need to be an NBA insider to realize that Paul George has options out there as a free agent. And I want to say ‘if’, because he doesn’t necessarily have to be a free agent, he has an option in his contract, and I think if he wanted to be traded somewhere he could use that as an opt-in-and-trade, but that’s a different topic.

“We know that the 76ers are interested. This is not a mystery. We know there’s other teams that would be interested including maybe the Orlando Magic. There isn’t a doubt right now that sometimes a player says ‘Hey, I want a certain number.’ And you’re, like, ‘Well, where are you getting that number?’ It’s just a posture. Paul George doesn’t have to posture. He has legitimate other offers and yet here he is still a free agent. Why? He’s from L.A. He wants to be a Clipper. He has extended with them in the past. They were last year, before Kawhi [Leonard] got hurt again, as formidable as a team in the Western Conference. There was a time where we thought they were a finalist favorite when they were healthy.

“Why, why have they not made that offer? They know he’s got other options and what we’re led to believe is that the offer that they made to Kawai, which was three years and $150 million. By the way, it’s not just the annual money, it’s also the years. If I’m 35-year-old Paul George, I want five years from the Clippers, I’m eligible to get five years, I want all five, or at least four. Why aren’t they doing that? They have to know that he can walk on them for nothing, so why?”

Windhorst suggests there’s a scenario where the Clippers could embark on an extensive reset if George leaves in free agency by also choosing not to re-sign James Harden. 

“And also when it comes to the Clippers, James Harden is sitting there,” said Windhorst. “James Harden is a free agent at the end of the month. What about Harden? If Paul George walks, you could let Harden walk and start half your team over. You’d be a cap space team. They have multiple options. The Clippers could still sign Paul George on July 1st. They could sign Paul George this afternoon, but the fact that they are not seemingly reacting to what his market clearly is, is something to pay attention to. It’s a bit of a fascinating development.”