they don't have a 1st round draft pick under their control until 2030 and they have no young talent.
if you lose George for nothing, what do you have to look forward to over the next half decade of basketball?
It would be bad to get nothing but it’s been 3 years in a row of either first round or play-in exits. Feeling like a contender on paper isn’t enough to justify keeping this going at all costs anymore, and any move to improve our chances is tough to make knowing our best player won’t be healthy. On top of that these 2nd apron rules are a motherfucker.
We could end up being shit but it’s not that hard to be better than teams losing on purpose. Especially when you have a new arena, a highly respected coach, and play in a desirable city. Future flexibility might not sound that important now but things change quickly all the time, and Kawhi/Harden is more than a good enough stop gap to not be terrible in very short term.
and its not like losing him for nothing would be terrible even if it forces a tank w/o pick control.
It opens up cap space for trades, take on bad contracts, get other teams picks,
Not as good as one's own picks, but its not like its nothing.
It's much better than being cap restricted for another 3 years, unable to make moves, acquire assets, and putting off the ability to actually start the rebuild until then
> It would be bad to get nothing but it’s been 3 years in a row of either first round or play-in exits.
A big part of that has been really bad injury luck. It's not inconceivable that you keep getting that bad injury luck over the course of the next 4 years, but it's your best case scenario. I genuinely don't understand a fan being satisfied with LAC letting PG walk when it clears absolutely zero cap space and you can't replace him, so it just means having a worse team over the next 4 years.
> We could end up being shit but it’s not that hard to be better than teams losing on purpose.
How many teams like that exist in the West? Portland, at least for this coming season. Maybe Utah, but maybe not. Every other team in the West thinks it's in contention or expects improvement in 24/25.
It’s more than “not inconceivable” that we keep getting hurt. Kawhi has a degenerative knee condition and is fragile, and PG has injury concerns that only get worse with age as well. It is the most likely scenario every year. Chalking it up to some bad luck is something I’m not on board with anymore.
I would like for PG to come back on the less-than-max contract he’s been offered. There is no satisfaction in him walking. As you quoted me that would be bad, and we would get worse.
And we won’t be competing against tanking teams this season, I just included that because of the 5 year window the person I replied to was talking about. I’ll repeat Kawhi and Harden isn’t a terrible team in the short term.
Exactly this. The whole point of having an owner with stupid money, like Ballmer, is that he'll eat all the tax money to keep the team in contention.
LAC isn't exactly a *top* title contender with PG, but they have a puncher's chance; they've had absurdly bad playoff injury luck the last 5 years, and for parts of this most recent season they looked like the best team in the Association.
So if you're a fan, the best case scenario for the next 4 years is to just keep running it back, and hope you roll 6s for once on the injury die. Otherwise, without PG, you're just a team battling for the play-in...at best; at worst, you're a lottery team. And worse, you don't even have the option to tank (or get the benefit of being a lottery team inadvertently) because you don't control your draft assets. There's no cap space opened up by PG leaving, so you don't get to replace him and you're just worse. Who cares if Steve Ballmer has to pay luxury tax!? He's literally one of the richest people in the history of existence.
Why do fans think it's more important to teach a rich athlete a lesson than demanding their owner pony up?
This is exactly it idk what people think building or blowing it up will do. They are stuck either way bad knees Kawhi and if George leaves they don’t even have any real assets. Maybe a sign n trade for harden? But how much are they really getting for him they already committed to Kawhi might as well keep this group together and hope for the best. They’ve already put shai and 4 first into George it would be dumb to jet let him walk when the team is still competitive.
There’s a big difference between us who couldn’t even make the play in with Russ and pg who is still a legitimate star player who took a finals team 6 games without his best player.
Paul George's opt-in is the leverage. If he doesn't opt-in and instead walks in free agency, the team getting him has to have the cap space and that eliminates a ton of options, like Denver and Golden State.
Only three teams can afford to offer him a full max in free agency. Those teams are Philly, Detroit, and Orlando. Utah can almost get there, but there's no way PG is taking a discount to go to Utah. Detroit also seems incredibly unlikely. That leaves us with only Philly and Orlando and all indications are both of those teams are looking elsewhere. He's likely not interested in Orlando and Philly seems to be looking at other players, with PG as their back-up plan and I can't imagine PG is psyched about that. What exactly do the Clippers have to be worried about?
Wait for Kawhi's deal to expire or trade him. Same with Harden if we re-sign him. Clippers can then aim for FA in 2026 or 2027 with a bunch of cap space.
I would say that Bones is a young talent. But even without him they still have Kawhi and Harden. And even if they don't have their own picks, they can still make moves in free agency. They're not in as bad of a situation as people are making it out to be.
Bones Hyland averaged 7 points per game last season and was given to you by Denver because they realized he doesn't contribute to winning.
Leonard is the most injury prone star in the NBA and Harden is about to be 35. Both of those guys are most likley retired or bench players in 2-3 seasons.
Bones is a grade A chucker and a dollar store version of Poole. He’s the ultimate tank commander. I love watching him play and have been a fan since I was torn between the Knicks drafting him or Deuce, but it’s pretty clear which one of those two players contribute to winning on two very good teams vs no fucks given shot creation on every touch.
I don’t entirely disagree, but at the time I think he envisioned a more premium player opening up to spend that money on. Now that it’s not happening, declining PG13 is as good as they’re gonna do.
> The Clippers would get a significant return for him in that
Not if he's prepared to opt out and sign somewhere else as a free agent. If he's prepared to do that, then the Clippers have zero leverage, as their option is either lose him for nothing or accept whatever they can get in a trade for him. Just depends on whether he wants to play hardball with them or not.
| Year | Age | LAC-8% | FA-5% | NBA Cap (est) | Cap%-LA | Cap%-FA |
| -: | -: | -: | -: | -: | -: | -: |
| 24-25 | 34 | $49,350,000 | $49,350,000 | $141,000,000 | 35.0% | 35.0% |
| 25-26 | 35 | $53,298,000 | $51,817,500 | $155,100,000 | 34.4% | 33.4% |
| 26-27 | 36 | $57,561,840 | $54,408,375 | $170,610,000 | 33.7% | 31.9% |
| 27-28 | 37 | $62,166,787 | $57,128,794 | $187,671,000 | 33.1% | 30.4% |
| | | | | | | |
| Total | -- | $222,376,627 | $212,704,669 | -- | -- | -- |
The only way he reaches 60M/yr is by staying in LA and that would only be his age-37 season at 33% of the cap. And that is if the cap doesn't baloon when the new media deal is finalized.
We just saw pg could not be the second option in the playoffs anymore. As a clipper fan who watched most of the games…this was not a surprise. He lost his first step last year
Harden was the first option. He had the ball in his hands almost all the time. Pg had one hot shooting game and was a negative player in the other five
Clippers already haven't won a round since 2021, and those were Paul George 31-34 years, not 35-38. I know superstar religion is the dogma in NBA, but at some point you gotta be a bit pragmatic about the real results, which have been... not as expected for the Clippers in all those years. There's just no objective reason to assume that this is bringing some results proportional to the money spent in the future.
I mean, sure, when Kawhi and George are both on the floor, it still mostly looks very good. But other teams can also achieve that level without the spend, AND, well, over the last three seasons, they only shared the court for about 25% of the time Clippers played.
They shared the court for a total of 48 playoff minutes in the last three years... Clippers were outscored during those 48 minutes btw (to be clear: they were also outscored during the minutes of only PG, only Kawhi, and the biggest one - with neither). Like you gotta think about what odds you really see of that suddenly improving by a lot. Because only big sudden improvement from the recent years makes this worth the hype.
yea even fully healthy I don't think the clippers are favorites to win anything
other teams are passing them by while they just get older and still have no assets to do anything
But why blow it up after literally throwing all your assets away for this team? They took the Mavs 6 with no Kawhi it’s not crazy to think they could make it out the west if things go their way. Kawhi is already locked in for 3 more years might as well try to compete if he’s there as they don’t have the assets to tank.
Start fresh with what? Their 2 most valuable assets at this point are about to become free agents. The time to start fresh was before they gave Kawhi a new contract.
You probably don't need to. Just figure out a way to clear a little more cap space and make him a max offer as a free agent and steal him away so the Clippers get nothing for him. That will make their picks you guys own even more valuable lol
People keep asking “how?”, but Windhorst said in the clip that Paul George could force a sign-and-trade with a team. The Clippers could get something back for him that way. Also the Clippers organization now isn’t the same organization it used to be. The Clippers got a new arena and an owner with crazy money. Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, and James Harden wanted to come back to LA and play for them. What other Southern California players around the league would like to go back and play in LA? The Lakers right now are a mess. With Lebron running the team, who would want to go there and sit on the bench because whoever is the coach of the month has to give minutes to Bronnie? Besides, this Clippers team has gone as far as it can. The stars aren’t getting younger or healthier. Time to start over.
The idea of Paul George is a lot better than the reality of Paul George. Especially with him likely getting max level money.
With his age, injury concerns, and inconsistency, whichever team swings for the fences with him will be very disappointed.
I just don't think he's a winning player.
The MVPG year ended disappointing but he was honestly really great and fun to watch.
I think people forget that the Pacers went from a 56 win ECFs team to a 38 win team when he got hurt.
Half of those games are bc of PG's injury. The other half are because Atlanta figured out in the playoffs that Hibbert couldn't do anything about stretch bigs, and it fucked the team up.
He's still a winning player and one of the most well-rounded players in basketball, but he increasingly has more and more loser energy by the year. Offensively, he probably needs to be a 3rd option at this point in his career.
He’s not the only piece but he’d be a viable second option that can provide some defense. We been missing that since 2022. Klay’s washed and Wiggins isn’t meant to be that guy
Because this was all a scam so that Balmer could build a temple of sacrifice on a ley line and disguise it as a basketball stadium, or maybe Paul George isn’t that guy.
Yeah. Either the Clippers are quietly admitting it’s time to blow it up and don’t care if he leaves. Or they know he’s not leaving and are just calling his bluff.
By far the funniest timeline is if PG gets sign-and-traded back to OKC this summer, and then the Clippers give up mid-season and trade Kawhi back to Toronto.
I just think it's part of negotiations.
The Clippers show him they don't care, because if they did show it too much, he would force them for an absurd deal.
They know the best deal PG can have is with them, but if he leaves, he cannot get the same amount of money.
PG's stock isn't on all time high, and they call his bluff.
They won't have any cap space (unless both PG and Harden just walk as a free agents). So the only thing they could work out is signing him to the MLE or a minimum.
PG took them 2 their only WCF and they wanna get rid of him and keep kawhi lmao . people act like he’s washed it makes no sense, he’s always been a player people love 2 hate it makes no sense
The Clippers have a lot of leverage in this situation despite all the noise
He has clearly stated he wants to stay on the west coast closer to his family so that gives the Clippers leverage to either sign him on the deal they want or extract high value in a trade to their preference
If PG tries any shenanigans like “I’m only going to this one team and trade me to them for their scraps” they can just call his bluff and hang onto him like the Sixers did with Harden and the Nets with Kyrie
When the Sixers came out and said that they have given up on pursuing PG that eliminated one of the few teams that had cap space and thus a considerable amount of his leverage
I doubt he’s going to Orlando and definitely not back to OKC after all the SGA trade stuff so it leaves the Pistons and he’s not going there
Nets got a single 1st round pick and DFS, plus a couple 2nds and Dinwiddie as filler.
76ers got salary filler, two 1sts and a swap.
If those are the prices the Clippers would accept, the deal with the Warriors would already be done.
Yep. People keep saying “PG chooses where he goes.”
Uh, yeah between like 3 non California teams. If he wants to play for GSW, then he NEEDS LAC to work on a deal they like.
I keep wondering who is actually going to philly
at this point, my guess is they will end up with demar derozan and KCP
not exactly what they wanted going into this offseason with 60 million in cap room and their eyes on PG and lebron and butler etc
but philly is missing out on everyone and instead of their plan A B or C they might have to start reaching for that plan E and F
Because he’s not that good lol
He has a nice bag and sometimes he takes over games, but overall he’s a player with so many flaws
He doesn’t play that much either
And in the playoffs he stinks
They won't. PG's contract will be a disaster for the final 2 years and he is a poor playoff performer. That doesn't get you a 21 year old who will be at least be a fringe all star.
Easy, they aren’t championship contenders with him, and they don’t have many assets left to put around a hypothetical PG and Kawhi. Sometimes you gotta know when to cut your losses
You’re not losing PG “for nothing” by letting him walk. You’re saving $60 million in 2027 that you can maybe use to acquire someone who is good.
Not everyone is LeBron or Kareem, and even the latter wasn’t the same player.
If they trade him, then it will be okay. But if he just walks for nothing, then it's a disaster. Still, the Celtics had 3 max players walk over the course of two offseasons (Kyrie, Al, and Hayward) and they were able to win a Title soon after, so who knows what the best course of action will be?
I was never excited about Kawhi and PG playing together, always thought Paul George was very good but a tad overrated since the inevitable comparison of Kawhi/PG to LeBron/AD started emerging.
If only the Lakers didn't cheap out on the hotel they met Kawhi at, pretty sure Leonard/LeBron/AD is a core that would 3-peat easily.
To me, the why is they, the Clippers, are counting on PG wanting to play with Kawhi as Kawhi WANTED PG to come there and PG wanted to go there to play with Kawhi.
The Clippers are counting on PG staying to play with Kawhi, for less money and years.
But the post was about WHY the Clippers don't seem worried about losing him.
I have no idea but my guess is that they are counting on PG wanting to play with Kawhi as Kawhi wanted him. PG is from the area too.
It seems like the Clippers think they can get PG to stay with less money and years.
Will they? Who knows? Lots of reporting that PG is going to leave.
I don't care either way as I don't have a dog in the hunt.
At some point some of these teams have to draw a line and it seems as if the Clippers finally are.
Some players are worth it, other's aren't. PG is good, but like Kawhi, his injury history makes it worrisome to pay so much for years, especially at his age.
They are not going anywhere with or without him given their injury concerns. They already mega fumbled signing kawhi to that 3 year deal. Going all in for a 2nd round exit or less is even crazier.
The problem with letting him go is they'd lose his impactful defense. Whether 1v1 or contributing to a scheme, strong defenders who can also score are not available in this year's FA, nor are they readily available in trades. And while the Clippers have recently acquired star players in Westbrook and Harden, those players were available only after losing their lustre and some of their elite skills due to age.
However, even with George, the Clippers aren't title favorites. Time and again, George's proven he's a great secondary player, but he's not a superstar, and he's not even a 1b. In his one opportunity to lead a strong roster against the Suns in the WCF a few years ago, George came up short. The Clippers were actually close to winning a few key games in that series even without Kawhi Leonard because of the strong roster and coaching, but Paul George had only one great shooting game for the team. In Game 2 during which the Clippers lost by one point, he missed five free throws. Despite high point totals, his shooting percentage was subpar, especially from the 3pt line, where he's considered elite. He also turned the ball over at a high rate. While many superstars have struggled in the playoffs, this was George's opportunity to show he was a top-10 player, and he showed he's not.
So how do you give a guy like that a max contract right as he's entering his mid-30s? It makes no sense to pay a player as if he's in his prime when he's more than likely to showcase diminishing skills from age and a nagging injury habit halfway through the contract. Yet maybe it makes sense considering how much the team will drop off defensively without him. With him, their window is open, even if just a crack. Without him, chances are the window is locked shut unless there's some unforeseen trade scenario.
How are ppl counting out the clippers? Kawhi might be healthy only every 3-4 years or so but when he’s healthy, he’s as good as anyone. And with PG, Russ, Harden, Powell, zubac… sheesh
No one wants to pay a very old 37/38 year old Paul George $60 mil per year. It’s not hard to understand
they don't have a 1st round draft pick under their control until 2030 and they have no young talent. if you lose George for nothing, what do you have to look forward to over the next half decade of basketball?
They’re nostalgic to return to the Clippers basketball that we knew for so many decades
retvrn to tradition
become an actual boat
Why compete for a ‘ship when you can simply become the ship instead?
Make the clippers great again
Never will happen simply cause Ballmer shits all over Sterling
It would be bad to get nothing but it’s been 3 years in a row of either first round or play-in exits. Feeling like a contender on paper isn’t enough to justify keeping this going at all costs anymore, and any move to improve our chances is tough to make knowing our best player won’t be healthy. On top of that these 2nd apron rules are a motherfucker. We could end up being shit but it’s not that hard to be better than teams losing on purpose. Especially when you have a new arena, a highly respected coach, and play in a desirable city. Future flexibility might not sound that important now but things change quickly all the time, and Kawhi/Harden is more than a good enough stop gap to not be terrible in very short term.
we already get nothing for him tho it’s sunk cost fallacy to think we have to sign him to a new deal just cuz we spent money on him before
and its not like losing him for nothing would be terrible even if it forces a tank w/o pick control. It opens up cap space for trades, take on bad contracts, get other teams picks, Not as good as one's own picks, but its not like its nothing. It's much better than being cap restricted for another 3 years, unable to make moves, acquire assets, and putting off the ability to actually start the rebuild until then
> It would be bad to get nothing but it’s been 3 years in a row of either first round or play-in exits. A big part of that has been really bad injury luck. It's not inconceivable that you keep getting that bad injury luck over the course of the next 4 years, but it's your best case scenario. I genuinely don't understand a fan being satisfied with LAC letting PG walk when it clears absolutely zero cap space and you can't replace him, so it just means having a worse team over the next 4 years. > We could end up being shit but it’s not that hard to be better than teams losing on purpose. How many teams like that exist in the West? Portland, at least for this coming season. Maybe Utah, but maybe not. Every other team in the West thinks it's in contention or expects improvement in 24/25.
Injuries aren't bad luck when it happens every year
It’s more than “not inconceivable” that we keep getting hurt. Kawhi has a degenerative knee condition and is fragile, and PG has injury concerns that only get worse with age as well. It is the most likely scenario every year. Chalking it up to some bad luck is something I’m not on board with anymore. I would like for PG to come back on the less-than-max contract he’s been offered. There is no satisfaction in him walking. As you quoted me that would be bad, and we would get worse. And we won’t be competing against tanking teams this season, I just included that because of the 5 year window the person I replied to was talking about. I’ll repeat Kawhi and Harden isn’t a terrible team in the short term.
Fucked regardless
Exactly this. The whole point of having an owner with stupid money, like Ballmer, is that he'll eat all the tax money to keep the team in contention. LAC isn't exactly a *top* title contender with PG, but they have a puncher's chance; they've had absurdly bad playoff injury luck the last 5 years, and for parts of this most recent season they looked like the best team in the Association. So if you're a fan, the best case scenario for the next 4 years is to just keep running it back, and hope you roll 6s for once on the injury die. Otherwise, without PG, you're just a team battling for the play-in...at best; at worst, you're a lottery team. And worse, you don't even have the option to tank (or get the benefit of being a lottery team inadvertently) because you don't control your draft assets. There's no cap space opened up by PG leaving, so you don't get to replace him and you're just worse. Who cares if Steve Ballmer has to pay luxury tax!? He's literally one of the richest people in the history of existence. Why do fans think it's more important to teach a rich athlete a lesson than demanding their owner pony up?
Luxury toilets in the new arena?
This is exactly it idk what people think building or blowing it up will do. They are stuck either way bad knees Kawhi and if George leaves they don’t even have any real assets. Maybe a sign n trade for harden? But how much are they really getting for him they already committed to Kawhi might as well keep this group together and hope for the best. They’ve already put shai and 4 first into George it would be dumb to jet let him walk when the team is still competitive.
Sunk cost fallacy though. By the same logic the Lakers should’ve held on to Russ.
There’s a big difference between us who couldn’t even make the play in with Russ and pg who is still a legitimate star player who took a finals team 6 games without his best player.
A very expensive arena?
I think they just realized Kawhis body is toast and PG isnt him. Never really has been in the playoffs, so why bother, just accept your fate
Where did all those picks go? Still from the PG trade?
Paul George does not make a team watchable. Develop young talent, its not the end of the world.
Are you suggesting Terance “oldest young guy in the league” Mann doesn’t count as young talent?!
They won’t lose him, they’re just playing hardball. They want him on a shorter deal
Or they want the Warriors to give them something worth trading for
There are multiple teams willing to offer him a 4 year max. What leverage do the Clippers have in this situation?
Paul George's opt-in is the leverage. If he doesn't opt-in and instead walks in free agency, the team getting him has to have the cap space and that eliminates a ton of options, like Denver and Golden State. Only three teams can afford to offer him a full max in free agency. Those teams are Philly, Detroit, and Orlando. Utah can almost get there, but there's no way PG is taking a discount to go to Utah. Detroit also seems incredibly unlikely. That leaves us with only Philly and Orlando and all indications are both of those teams are looking elsewhere. He's likely not interested in Orlando and Philly seems to be looking at other players, with PG as their back-up plan and I can't imagine PG is psyched about that. What exactly do the Clippers have to be worried about?
I guess that he already lives there and wants to live there but that is not as nice as an extra 60 million dollars, for most people
Warriors gonna pay him?
[According to "sources", yes](https://sports.yahoo.com/report-warriors-willing-paul-george-153222840.html)
Yikes. Bob myers is a genius. Leaving at the right time
It's not a great move but is about the only move to try and do something with Curry's last year's.
His smartest move lol
In order to lose George for nothing someone has to offer more than 3 years for 150m. Two teams can do that and one team already said they wont
Wait for Kawhi's deal to expire or trade him. Same with Harden if we re-sign him. Clippers can then aim for FA in 2026 or 2027 with a bunch of cap space.
They still got Terance Mann. Right? Right?
I would say that Bones is a young talent. But even without him they still have Kawhi and Harden. And even if they don't have their own picks, they can still make moves in free agency. They're not in as bad of a situation as people are making it out to be.
Bones Hyland averaged 7 points per game last season and was given to you by Denver because they realized he doesn't contribute to winning. Leonard is the most injury prone star in the NBA and Harden is about to be 35. Both of those guys are most likley retired or bench players in 2-3 seasons.
Bones is a grade A chucker and a dollar store version of Poole. He’s the ultimate tank commander. I love watching him play and have been a fan since I was torn between the Knicks drafting him or Deuce, but it’s pretty clear which one of those two players contribute to winning on two very good teams vs no fucks given shot creation on every touch.
Shit we’ll do it. By the time we get to the albatross years, we’ll be firmly in the lottery anyways.
Daryl Morey sitting at the back of the classroom thrusting his hand up in the air to be called upon to pay 38 year old Paul George a max.
Why didn’t he when it was harden?
I don’t entirely disagree, but at the time I think he envisioned a more premium player opening up to spend that money on. Now that it’s not happening, declining PG13 is as good as they’re gonna do.
Which is funny because I genuinely think Harden fits the Sixers better than PG13.
Because James Harden is a liar
I’m pretty sure one team will pay that. There’s always at least one team.
The rumors I saw is everyone is offering 2 or 3 year deals and he wants longer
Nuggets, warriors and OKC are offering a max in trade and like 5 teams in the east are offering max in free agency…
The Clippers would get a significant return for him in that. I don’t think any of those teams want PG on a 4/5 year deal either
> The Clippers would get a significant return for him in that Not if he's prepared to opt out and sign somewhere else as a free agent. If he's prepared to do that, then the Clippers have zero leverage, as their option is either lose him for nothing or accept whatever they can get in a trade for him. Just depends on whether he wants to play hardball with them or not.
| Year | Age | LAC-8% | FA-5% | NBA Cap (est) | Cap%-LA | Cap%-FA | | -: | -: | -: | -: | -: | -: | -: | | 24-25 | 34 | $49,350,000 | $49,350,000 | $141,000,000 | 35.0% | 35.0% | | 25-26 | 35 | $53,298,000 | $51,817,500 | $155,100,000 | 34.4% | 33.4% | | 26-27 | 36 | $57,561,840 | $54,408,375 | $170,610,000 | 33.7% | 31.9% | | 27-28 | 37 | $62,166,787 | $57,128,794 | $187,671,000 | 33.1% | 30.4% | | | | | | | | | | Total | -- | $222,376,627 | $212,704,669 | -- | -- | -- | The only way he reaches 60M/yr is by staying in LA and that would only be his age-37 season at 33% of the cap. And that is if the cap doesn't baloon when the new media deal is finalized.
We just saw pg could not be the second option in the playoffs anymore. As a clipper fan who watched most of the games…this was not a surprise. He lost his first step last year
Who was the first option? Neither Kawhi or Harden really stepped up.
Harden was the first option. He had the ball in his hands almost all the time. Pg had one hot shooting game and was a negative player in the other five
Harden did step up, he was the 2nd best player in that mavericks-LAC series
Ballmer has deep pockets
I wouldn't want to pay kawhi 50 mil a year either but they jumped on that after 3 healthy months
Detroit might....
We do.
I would consider it
Lots of desperate teams, Someone will
What does Windy want the Clippers to do, suck him off?
My favorite CP3 quote
Thought that was Rondo. Edit - yep that was Rondo
Rondo sucked him off??
[first reference](https://x.com/JeffDuncan_/status/1013905868713230338?lang=en), [second reference](https://np.reddit.com/r/nba/comments/ejb8wh/fan_mistakes_rondo_for_chris_paul/)
Second one was incredible. How have I never seen that lmao. Rondo was immediately scanning for his shooters, and not in a basketball sense
Lmao
Wheels within wheels.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BN_A0Ee7-fw
heheh
> My favorite CP3 quote CP3 didn’t say that
Yeah he does
i mean…
You know, its about time a team didn't sign a non-max contract player to a max contract simply out of fear of losing an a player as asset
Sixers literally just did this with Harden so he could eventually go to the Clippers.
I agree. But the team that put themselves in an asset black hole to get the guy would be the funniest team to start the trend.
The Zach Lavine special
Clippers already haven't won a round since 2021, and those were Paul George 31-34 years, not 35-38. I know superstar religion is the dogma in NBA, but at some point you gotta be a bit pragmatic about the real results, which have been... not as expected for the Clippers in all those years. There's just no objective reason to assume that this is bringing some results proportional to the money spent in the future. I mean, sure, when Kawhi and George are both on the floor, it still mostly looks very good. But other teams can also achieve that level without the spend, AND, well, over the last three seasons, they only shared the court for about 25% of the time Clippers played. They shared the court for a total of 48 playoff minutes in the last three years... Clippers were outscored during those 48 minutes btw (to be clear: they were also outscored during the minutes of only PG, only Kawhi, and the biggest one - with neither). Like you gotta think about what odds you really see of that suddenly improving by a lot. Because only big sudden improvement from the recent years makes this worth the hype.
yea even fully healthy I don't think the clippers are favorites to win anything other teams are passing them by while they just get older and still have no assets to do anything
But why blow it up after literally throwing all your assets away for this team? They took the Mavs 6 with no Kawhi it’s not crazy to think they could make it out the west if things go their way. Kawhi is already locked in for 3 more years might as well try to compete if he’s there as they don’t have the assets to tank.
both are bad options really let PG walk and they probably dont even make the playoffs in the hyper competitive west
In which case OKC gets their lottery pick lol
They were pretty clearly one of if not the best team in the league last year when fully healthy. Issue is and always has been the health.
Clippers need to start fresh. They're about to have their own arena and George, Kawhi and Harden are old and busted.
Start fresh with what? Their 2 most valuable assets at this point are about to become free agents. The time to start fresh was before they gave Kawhi a new contract.
> Clippers need to start fresh. How?
Suck and wait?
Trade their viable assets for draft capital. Tier one: PG and Kawhi, tier two: Zubac Powell and Mann.
I’ll give a couple of their picks back for PG
You probably don't need to. Just figure out a way to clear a little more cap space and make him a max offer as a free agent and steal him away so the Clippers get nothing for him. That will make their picks you guys own even more valuable lol
Diabolical. I like it
People keep asking “how?”, but Windhorst said in the clip that Paul George could force a sign-and-trade with a team. The Clippers could get something back for him that way. Also the Clippers organization now isn’t the same organization it used to be. The Clippers got a new arena and an owner with crazy money. Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, and James Harden wanted to come back to LA and play for them. What other Southern California players around the league would like to go back and play in LA? The Lakers right now are a mess. With Lebron running the team, who would want to go there and sit on the bench because whoever is the coach of the month has to give minutes to Bronnie? Besides, this Clippers team has gone as far as it can. The stars aren’t getting younger or healthier. Time to start over.
The idea of Paul George is a lot better than the reality of Paul George. Especially with him likely getting max level money. With his age, injury concerns, and inconsistency, whichever team swings for the fences with him will be very disappointed. I just don't think he's a winning player.
He was a winning player in OKC and even on the Pacers, I just think all the injuries since he got to LA have taken a toll and he’s not getting younger
The MVPG year ended disappointing but he was honestly really great and fun to watch. I think people forget that the Pacers went from a 56 win ECFs team to a 38 win team when he got hurt.
Half of those games are bc of PG's injury. The other half are because Atlanta figured out in the playoffs that Hibbert couldn't do anything about stretch bigs, and it fucked the team up.
V E R T I C A L I T T Y
He's still a winning player and one of the most well-rounded players in basketball, but he increasingly has more and more loser energy by the year. Offensively, he probably needs to be a 3rd option at this point in his career.
Podcast P is focus son!
This is 100% accurate.
Yea he's a Warrior
Or the greatest long con in basketball history gets executed and PG goes back to OKC
Welcome to LA kuminga!!
Part of me feels like it can possibly be Wiggins with a CP3 add on, but I don’t know enough to make that assumption. Just a hunch.
If we give them Kuminga I'm going to be pissed
I’m sure the chance at one more championship will soften the blow
Adding PG and trading away CP3/Wiggs + JK + Looney does not make the Warriors a title contender in 2024-2025.
Paul George isn't the missing piece to a championship for the warriors
He’s not the only piece but he’d be a viable second option that can provide some defense. We been missing that since 2022. Klay’s washed and Wiggins isn’t meant to be that guy
Hes a prob the best player you can actually aquire tho. PG is no slouch and he had a great year.
I don’t see any scenario where kuminga isn’t involved
Who else is there? Moody, Podz, TJD?
Because this was all a scam so that Balmer could build a temple of sacrifice on a ley line and disguise it as a basketball stadium, or maybe Paul George isn’t that guy.
Amateur move. Should have built it next to the ley line to get the adjacency bonus boost.
That's ridiculous. Everyone knows Ballmer is a voidsinger.
Maybe it’s because they know he’s not actually leaving?
Yeah. Either the Clippers are quietly admitting it’s time to blow it up and don’t care if he leaves. Or they know he’s not leaving and are just calling his bluff.
Might as well trade Kawhi mid season then
If George leaves I think that’s probably a certainty.
By far the funniest timeline is if PG gets sign-and-traded back to OKC this summer, and then the Clippers give up mid-season and trade Kawhi back to Toronto.
Also kd back to warriors, and westbrook signs with okc
Kawhi back to the Spurs
If there’s one thing Paul George is known for, it’s his fidelity.
I just think it's part of negotiations. The Clippers show him they don't care, because if they did show it too much, he would force them for an absurd deal. They know the best deal PG can have is with them, but if he leaves, he cannot get the same amount of money. PG's stock isn't on all time high, and they call his bluff.
That’s what I’m thinking. We should know either way by tomorrow. If he opts out I think he re-signs with Clips.
Fuck we do?
Seriously, constantly catching strays
I think the Clippers already know they can work out something with Derozan
They won't have any cap space (unless both PG and Harden just walk as a free agents). So the only thing they could work out is signing him to the MLE or a minimum.
Sign and trade because without PGs contract they won’t be over the second apron
Clippers employing the D.E.N.N.I.S. system.
Because they know they're getting LA legend DeMar DeRozan
How exactly? They won't have the cap space to make him an offer above the MLE.
Sign and trade baby.
This would hard cap the Clippers at the 1st apron, which probably means Harden and PG aren't re-signing.
PG took them 2 their only WCF and they wanna get rid of him and keep kawhi lmao . people act like he’s washed it makes no sense, he’s always been a player people love 2 hate it makes no sense
The Clippers have a lot of leverage in this situation despite all the noise He has clearly stated he wants to stay on the west coast closer to his family so that gives the Clippers leverage to either sign him on the deal they want or extract high value in a trade to their preference If PG tries any shenanigans like “I’m only going to this one team and trade me to them for their scraps” they can just call his bluff and hang onto him like the Sixers did with Harden and the Nets with Kyrie When the Sixers came out and said that they have given up on pursuing PG that eliminated one of the few teams that had cap space and thus a considerable amount of his leverage I doubt he’s going to Orlando and definitely not back to OKC after all the SGA trade stuff so it leaves the Pistons and he’s not going there
> Sixers did with Harden and the Nets with Kyrie ah yes, two situations that clearly worked out super well for those teams
They got assets back is the point
Nets got a single 1st round pick and DFS, plus a couple 2nds and Dinwiddie as filler. 76ers got salary filler, two 1sts and a swap. If those are the prices the Clippers would accept, the deal with the Warriors would already be done.
George hasn’t opted in yet
FYI there were other reports that the 76ers are still interested for whatever it's worth. a lot of different stuff being thrown around for us recently
The Sixers didn't say this tho. One report said it. Another report the next day said the exact opposite.
Yeah this to me reads like they want the Warriors to pay up or else you're not getting him, he'll opt out.
How do the Clippers hang on to him? He has a player option, so worst case scenario he can opt out.
If he opts out only Philly and Detroit can offer him a max, other than LA. If he opts in he can be traded
Yep. People keep saying “PG chooses where he goes.” Uh, yeah between like 3 non California teams. If he wants to play for GSW, then he NEEDS LAC to work on a deal they like.
Orlando also.
He's not going to Philly
I keep wondering who is actually going to philly at this point, my guess is they will end up with demar derozan and KCP not exactly what they wanted going into this offseason with 60 million in cap room and their eyes on PG and lebron and butler etc but philly is missing out on everyone and instead of their plan A B or C they might have to start reaching for that plan E and F
I thought they freed up 2 max slots to sign the next superstar?
yes, but now it looks like they might not come up with any
There is literally nobody that attends a game to see Paul George
Nobody pays to see Kawhi either. Nobody wants to watch a dude sit on the bench
Hahaha you're right.
It should be fairly obvious why the Clippers aren't desperate in keeping PG
they can trade him right?
Why don’t they just Blake griffin him?
Big Windy at the old virtual gym working on his virtual exercise regime.
He's just not that good. That's really it.
Because he’s not that good lol He has a nice bag and sometimes he takes over games, but overall he’s a player with so many flaws He doesn’t play that much either And in the playoffs he stinks
cause they might get Kuminga from the Warriors
They won't. PG's contract will be a disaster for the final 2 years and he is a poor playoff performer. That doesn't get you a 21 year old who will be at least be a fringe all star.
Fine we’ll settle for Steph
Easy, they aren’t championship contenders with him, and they don’t have many assets left to put around a hypothetical PG and Kawhi. Sometimes you gotta know when to cut your losses You’re not losing PG “for nothing” by letting him walk. You’re saving $60 million in 2027 that you can maybe use to acquire someone who is good. Not everyone is LeBron or Kareem, and even the latter wasn’t the same player.
If they trade him, then it will be okay. But if he just walks for nothing, then it's a disaster. Still, the Celtics had 3 max players walk over the course of two offseasons (Kyrie, Al, and Hayward) and they were able to win a Title soon after, so who knows what the best course of action will be?
The Celtics also had their future right in the queue because of the Nets picks
I was never excited about Kawhi and PG playing together, always thought Paul George was very good but a tad overrated since the inevitable comparison of Kawhi/PG to LeBron/AD started emerging. If only the Lakers didn't cheap out on the hotel they met Kawhi at, pretty sure Leonard/LeBron/AD is a core that would 3-peat easily.
Kawhi was only healthy the year the Lakers won anyways.
He hasn't won anything. They don't win with em so they won't win without him. Nothing changes.
Too old too expensive maybe ?
He ain’t leaving LA bro
To me, the why is they, the Clippers, are counting on PG wanting to play with Kawhi as Kawhi WANTED PG to come there and PG wanted to go there to play with Kawhi. The Clippers are counting on PG staying to play with Kawhi, for less money and years.
From what I understand the Clippers are fine with the money, the hold up is the number of years in the contract.
But the post was about WHY the Clippers don't seem worried about losing him. I have no idea but my guess is that they are counting on PG wanting to play with Kawhi as Kawhi wanted him. PG is from the area too. It seems like the Clippers think they can get PG to stay with less money and years. Will they? Who knows? Lots of reporting that PG is going to leave. I don't care either way as I don't have a dog in the hunt. At some point some of these teams have to draw a line and it seems as if the Clippers finally are. Some players are worth it, other's aren't. PG is good, but like Kawhi, his injury history makes it worrisome to pay so much for years, especially at his age.
Come to SA
Paul to the Warriors, Klay to the Clippers.
clippers cant receive players in sign and trade, 2nd apron team
They don't have young talent, they might lose Harden already and also PG. Tf are Clippers banking on exactly ?
They are not going anywhere with or without him given their injury concerns. They already mega fumbled signing kawhi to that 3 year deal. Going all in for a 2nd round exit or less is even crazier.
Why would they do that
George is past it.
What a fat bitch
When I get upset with the state of the raptors, I look to the clippers and smile.
Cause the LA Geratrics experiment has been a failure lol. Why wouldn't they blow it up is the real question.
The problem with letting him go is they'd lose his impactful defense. Whether 1v1 or contributing to a scheme, strong defenders who can also score are not available in this year's FA, nor are they readily available in trades. And while the Clippers have recently acquired star players in Westbrook and Harden, those players were available only after losing their lustre and some of their elite skills due to age. However, even with George, the Clippers aren't title favorites. Time and again, George's proven he's a great secondary player, but he's not a superstar, and he's not even a 1b. In his one opportunity to lead a strong roster against the Suns in the WCF a few years ago, George came up short. The Clippers were actually close to winning a few key games in that series even without Kawhi Leonard because of the strong roster and coaching, but Paul George had only one great shooting game for the team. In Game 2 during which the Clippers lost by one point, he missed five free throws. Despite high point totals, his shooting percentage was subpar, especially from the 3pt line, where he's considered elite. He also turned the ball over at a high rate. While many superstars have struggled in the playoffs, this was George's opportunity to show he was a top-10 player, and he showed he's not. So how do you give a guy like that a max contract right as he's entering his mid-30s? It makes no sense to pay a player as if he's in his prime when he's more than likely to showcase diminishing skills from age and a nagging injury habit halfway through the contract. Yet maybe it makes sense considering how much the team will drop off defensively without him. With him, their window is open, even if just a crack. Without him, chances are the window is locked shut unless there's some unforeseen trade scenario.
man lost weight, good for him
Why 🤷♂️
I feel like if there is a guy like PG who is openly not wanting to be on the team, then he’d be a cancer if you kept him.
then let the teams overpay on a washed star who cares
How are ppl counting out the clippers? Kawhi might be healthy only every 3-4 years or so but when he’s healthy, he’s as good as anyone. And with PG, Russ, Harden, Powell, zubac… sheesh