Thus ends the NBA season, and the feared Boston Celtics fans can celebrate in the streets for the thirteenth time since 1957.
If the Sixers want to beat a team with as much top-tier firepower as the team Danny Ainge (now with the Jazz, though he did most of the heavy lifting here), Mike Zarren and current president Brad Stevens have built, “We are going to need important reinforcements.
The name at the top of Daryl Morey’s wish list is Clippers star Paul George. PG has a player option for next season worth $48.7 million.
But we heard reports earlier this season that Steve Ballmer, by far the NBA’s richest owner worth an estimated $129.7 billion, was hesitant to allow his front office to offer PG more money than Kawhi Leonard in a potential extension.
Leonard, a two-time NBA Finals MVP, is the Clippers’ best player when healthy. But as Sixers fans know, that “when he’s healthy” distinction is kind of a big asterisk. PG, now 34, isn’t exactly a poster child for perfect health, but he was a safer bet than Leonard to be healthy heading into the playoffs. And he also seems like the safest bet for the next three or four seasons.
On KeynoteUSA’s “Get UP” on Monday, expert Brian Windhorst speculated on the latest from Clipperville:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14bLuPCEF24
“What’s interesting to me is that the Clippers are very aware that someone is going to offer (George) a four-year maximum contract. Whether it’s the 76ers or the Magic or some team could even trade for him. But there’s another thing with Paul George that I want to point out. He has an option in his contract. It is known as “The Chris Paul Movement.” When you come to a team and you say, ‘Either I’m going to sign with this team here, or you’re going to exercise my option and trade me there.’ So even if you don’t have cap space, a team, for example, like the New York Knicks. Okay, if they wanted Paul George they could say, ‘Okay, you can come with us and we’ll make the trade for you.’ You don’t have to hire him directly. The Clippers know that all of this is going to continue. And yet they still don’t make this offer. They are not (inaudible) to do this yet. So if you get to July 1st and the Clippers have done this, they’re going to play hard, then you know he’s really going to be on the market. I suspect the Clippers read, at least on June 17, that they are calling his bluff. They actually don’t think he’s going to leave his hometown of Los Angeles to go to Philadelphia or Orlando or anything like that.”
This stalemate appears to have started in January.
Basically, the Clippers drew a line in the sand, implying that PG wasn’t worthy of what Kawhi was (three years, $152 million). George apparently received that minor renewal offer sheet last January. PG wisely scoffed at the insulting and miserable offer. Now that miscalculation can affect them.
If George opts out, he is eligible to sign a maximum four-year contract (the NBA’s “Over 38” rule prohibits teams from offering him a fifth year) worth up to approximately $221.1 million. By owning George’s bird rights, the Clips can offer the nine-time All-Star raises of 8 percent, while all other teams can only offer raises of 5 percent.
That means the Sixers can “only” offer George $212.5 million for the same deal. Still, it’s only a difference of $8.6 million.
As you would expect in any ongoing negotiation, the PG to Philly barometer has swung several times lately. KeynoteUSA’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported in May that “the Clippers are determined to keep Paul George and James Harden in free agency, and the organization will move into the state-of-the-art new Intuit Dome for the start of next season. “
But Windy, at least more recently, is singing a different tune.
When examining the option-and-trade scenario for Chris Paul (the guy Daryl Morey, while in Houston, once executed to rescue Chris Paul from Doc Rivers the Clips), with an expanding salary cap, it looks like PG could win more money. in the long term by choosing to participate.
But he’d have to wait six months, and if any player knows that catastrophic injuries can happen, it’s PG, who broke his leg in multiple places in 2014 during a game with Team USA.
If I had to decide between $212 million today or waiting, I’m not sure I’d want to risk playing from November to January for the additional ~$12 million. Additionally, PG could take a lesson from “Carmelo Anthony” and try to avoid depleting the valuable Draft assets of the new team he wants to play for that he would need later to beat the Celtics.
So the best news here is that it looks like the Clippers are still playing hardball with George. So far they haven’t done anything to suggest they feel he’s worth every penny of a max deal. As stellar as the quintessential 3-and-D triple-threat wing has been, with a new arena ready to open up, deciding he couldn’t win as much as Leonard, and now trying to catch a bluff? It’s all quite strange. Imagine how Kawhi would feel if they ended up letting him walk without getting anything in return?
Is there any chance they’re putting out a 2023 version of Morey-with-Harden and sending these quiet signals in the hopes that he opts in, so they can make a successful move? Unlike Beard, PG has max offers elsewhere that tempt him not to do it.
The less good news for the Sixers here is the idea that PG could ultimately make more money if he opts in, which could give him an incentive to listen to pitches from contenders without cap space. Gross.
The Sixers can spend up to $65 million in salary cap space. But if other teams can negotiate for him (with plans to extend him in January for even more than his July max), well, you can see the problem there. Miami? Cleveland? NY?
George, a CAA client, shares an agent with Knicks star Jalen Brunson. The Knicks have also been linked to PG in some reports.
If PG felt Brunson is a safer bet than Embiid to be healthy in next year’s playoffs… maybe that will ruin things for Morey, even if things fall apart with PG and the Clips.
But let’s focus on today’s good news. The Clippers seem to think PG isn’t leaving, they certainly aren’t rolling out red carpets like Morey is, and maybe they are “calling a bluff.” I’d say that would be the second time he’s been insulted in five months. First, by deciding that he’s not worth what Leonard was worth last January, and again now, knowing that other teams are prepared to drop a whole stack, while arguing over an amount that’s roughly equal to 0.17% of Ballmer’s total net worth.
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