Paul George left the Los Angeles Clippers after agreeing to a four-year $211M deal with the Philadelphia 76ers. Earlier than leaving Los Angeles, the veteran ahead was reportedly in negotiations over a possible contract extension.
Throughout a current episode of “Podcast P with Paul George,” the All-Star ahead revealed the Clippers wished him to retire with the franchise.
“Simply to place it on the market, I by no means wished to depart L.A.,” George mentioned. “I introduced the three (years) $150M no commerce (clause). As a result of within the assembly, they’re like, ‘We wish you right here, long run.’…I am like cool, ‘Give me the three years $150M no commerce,’ however they did not wanna do the no commerce … By the negotiations, they wasn’t budging, I wasn’t gonna budge … At that time, it did not really feel proper to return again with that sort of vitality.”
George was proper to request a no-trade clause. The final time the Clippers pitched a participant on retiring with the franchise, they traded Blake Griffin shortly after signing him to an extension. By including the no-trade to his contract, George would have been shielded from historical past repeating itself.
The Clippers, with Kawhi Leonard and George, had been an costly group. As each of its star gamers continued to age, it is believable the entrance workplace would entertain commerce discussions for one of many star forwards. George is within the closing stage of his profession and wishes to maximise his revenue whereas he nonetheless can.
If George did not consider the Clippers pitch was reliable, he was proper to face his floor in contract negotiations. In the end, that led to him leaving the franchise and heading again to the Japanese Convention. Nonetheless, he signed a giant contract and is still on a contending team. He may not be in Los Angeles, however George actually made probably the most of his free company.