The Philadelphia 76ers are strong contenders to land Paul George on a free agent deal, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on Sunday, after George informed the Clippers he would rather sign a contract with another team.
George’s agent, Aaron Mintz of CAA, held talks with LA Clippers president Lawrence Frank on Sunday night that resulted in no new developments on a deal. The Clippers then said in a statement that George had decided to move on.
Sources told Wojnarowski that the Sixers team is scheduled to meet with George in California on Sunday night.
“Paul has informed us that he is signing his next contract with another team,” the Clippers said in a statement. “Paul is a tremendous talent and a great two-way player. We feel fortunate to have had five years with him. During that span, he went to three All-Star Games, made the most 3-pointers in franchise history and helped the team get to a point it had never reached before. His performances in Games 5 and 6 against Utah in 2021 will not be forgotten by anyone associated with the Clippers.”
“We put a lot of effort into building the duo of Paul and Kawhi (Leonard) and in return, we had five seasons of competition. Even though we fell short of our ultimate goal, we appreciate the opportunities we had with Paul.”
George’s decision to move on comes after the Clippers described what they called a “significant” gap in contract negotiations. George was eligible to sign an extension worth up to four years and $221 million during the season.
After the Clippers and Leonard agreed to a three-year, $150 million extension in January, George was hopeful he would get an extension soon. But the two sides were “very far apart.”
George is eligible to sign a four-year, $212 million contract with teams that have the cap space.
The Clippers — who have agreed to a two-year, $70 million deal with free agent point guard James Harden, sources told ESPN — said they explored a trade that would require George to pick up his $48.8 million player option before Saturday’s deadline.
But the organization has taken a balanced approach to roster construction, as the new collective bargaining agreement is punitive to tax-paying teams such as the Clippers.
“Entering this offseason, our roster included three excellent players over the age of 33, two of whom could become free agents,” the Clippers said in a statement. “We wanted to retain them on contracts that would allow us, within the constraints of the new CBA, to continue building the team.
“We negotiated with Paul and his representatives for months on a contract that made sense for both parties, and we fell far short. The gap was too wide. We understand and respect Paul’s decision to look elsewhere for his next contract. We explored an opt-in and trade scenario, but that would have left us in a similar position under the new CBA, with too little asset value to justify the restrictions.”
George’s departure brings a disappointing end to the Leonard-George era. During the summer of 2019, the Clippers celebrated perhaps their biggest moment ever when Leonard decided to sign with the team as a free agent and then LA made a blockbuster trade to acquire George.
The Clippers had to go through a massive amount of effort to acquire the All-Star wing, including sending Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari, unprotected 2022, 2024, 2026 first-round picks, a swap of first-round rights in 2023 and 2025, and unprotected 2021 and protected 2023 first-round picks to the Oklahoma City Thunder via the Miami Heat.
The Leonard-George duo raised a lot of title hopes, but due to frequent injuries, the pair could not reach the NBA Finals. The Clippers have made it to the Western Conference Finals only once in the last five years, in 2021.
The past two postseasons were first-round exits. George was injured and couldn’t play, and Leonard was injured after two games of a five-game series with the Phoenix Suns in 2023. And this year, Leonard missed the last three games of a six-game series with the Dallas Mavericks.
Without George, the Clippers are heading into free agency with a $12.9 million mid-level exception and a $4.7 million biennial exception.
But it will be extremely difficult for the Clippers to replace George, a nine-time All-Star who averaged 22.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.5 assists last season while shooting career-highs of 47.1% from the field, 41.3% from 3-point range and 90.7% from the free throw line.
The Clippers said they now have flexibility under the new CBA and will look for opportunities to remain a playoff team with Leonard and Harden while moving to the new Intuit Dome in Inglewood.
“We will miss Paul,” the team said. “At the same time, we are excited about the opportunity we now have, which includes greater flexibility under the new CBA. Kawhi is an All-NBA player and we believe (Ty) Lue is the best coach in the league. We will field a highly competitive team this season, and moving forward, use our organizational advantages to bring top talent to the Intuit Dome.”
