A week after agreeing to join the Philadelphia 76ers, Paul George spoke out about his split with his hometown team, the Los Angeles Clippers, and the breakdown in contract negotiations before leaving the team.
George detailed his side of the negotiations with the Clippers on his podcast, “Podcast P with Paul George,” released on Monday.
In it, he said he didn’t want to leave Los Angeles but that the Clippers’ “unruly” offer in October dictated the direction of negotiations.
“Let me be clear, I didn’t want to leave LA,” George said (29:00 below). “At first, I had no intention of leaving LA. LA is home and I wanted to finish here. I wanted to try as hard as I could to win a championship there. My goal was to stay here and commit to LA.”
“But ultimately, I thought the initial transaction was a bit disrespectful. Again, no rancor or love lost in all of this. This is a business.”
“My first contract was for two years for $60. [million]… So I was like, wow, wow, wow. … So I was like, no, I’m not signing it.”
George said the Clippers then approached him about continuing to build a team around him and Kawhi Leonard for the long term. George said the Clippers “increased the price” from their initial offer in October, eventually landing on an offer of “$44 million to $45 million” per year.
Then in January, Leonard signed a fully guaranteed, three-year, $150 million extension. George said during the season he would have agreed to the same deal.
“Then I heard the rumors about what they were going to give Kawhi,” George continued, “so I was like, ‘Give me what Kawhi got. You guys look at us the same way. We came here together. We want to finish this shit together. I’ll take what Kawhi got.’ No problem. I was fine with that.”
“And we still [than max contract value]Kawhi got paid less. If Kawhi gets paid less, I’m not going to say I want more than Kawhi. It’s not like I’m going to get paid more than him. I’m going to take what he gets. You guys give it to him, you give it to me. They didn’t want to do that.”
George said he plans to end negotiations during the season during the All-Star break and then resume negotiations after the season ends, after which the Clippers have offered him “three years, $150,000.” [million]He said he countered that he would accept the deal if it came with a “no-trade clause” similar to Leonard’s deal.
He said the Clippers refused to include a no-trade clause, so he countered again with a four-year, $212 million max contract without a no-trade clause. The Clippers rejected that offer, and negotiations ultimately “stuck,” he said.
“I love [owner] Steve [Ballmer]I love [president of basketball operations] Lawrence [Frank]George continued, “But at that point, it just didn’t seem right to me to come back with that kind of energy and feel comfortable playing in Los Angeles.”
George ultimately signed a four-year, $212 million max contract with the 76ers. Hours before the deal was reported, the Clippers issued a statement announcing that George would not return and laying out their side of the story regarding the breakdown in negotiations.
“We have been in negotiations with Paul and his representatives for many months and have come to an agreement that is satisfactory to both parties, but there were significant differences of opinion,” the statement read. “Those differences were significant, and we understand and respect Paul’s decision to pursue his next contract elsewhere.”
George’s move to Philadelphia is the most significant move of NBA free agency as he joins former MVP Joel Embiid and All-Star Tyrese Maxey on a 76ers core that is expected to compete for an NBA championship.
His departure ends an era in Los Angeles, where the Clippers acquired George and Leonard five years ago in a bid to win a title. The Clippers have reached the Western Conference finals just once in those five seasons and have no hope of competing for a championship with George gone.
