The 34-year-old George averaged 22.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.5 assists last season, but the Clippers' season ended on a tear in a first-round loss to the Dallas Mavericks. In the playoffs, with Leonard missing most of the series with a knee injury, George averaged 19.5 points, 6.8 rebounds and 4.8 assists.
In Philadelphia, George would team with 2023 MVP Joel Embiid and 2024 Most Valuable Player Tyrese Maxey to form an explosive core trio. After trading James Harden to the Clippers last fall, Philadelphia allowed forward Tobias Harris to leave the team in free agency, eager to free up the cap space needed to acquire George.
The move comes with big risks. George has played more than 60 games just once in the past five seasons and has shifted his offensive style to the perimeter as he enters his late 30s. He led the Clippers to the Western Conference finals in 2021 but hasn't made it past the first round in any of the past three seasons and missed the 2023 playoffs because of a knee injury.
Of course, Philadelphia continues to face immense pressure to reach the Eastern Conference finals for the first time in Embiid's career. The 76ers have reached the conference semifinals in five of the past six seasons but lost in the first round to the New York Knicks last season. In addition to George, the Sixers signed veterans Andre Drummond and Eric Gordon and agreed to re-sign Kelly Oubre Jr. on Sunday, the first day of free agency.
The Clippers had hoped to fill their shiny new arena, the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif., with a four-star Southern California team consisting of Leonard, George, Harden and Russell Westbrook. But instead they paired Leonard, who signed a three-year, $153 million extension in January, with Harden, who agreed to a two-year, $70 million deal on Sunday, with George gone and Westbrook eligible for a trade.
The Clippers acquired George from the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2019 in exchange for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, five first-round picks and two first-round pick swaps. Gilgeous-Alexander was the runner-up for MVP that year.
“Paul has informed us that he will be signing his next contract with another team,” the Clippers said in a statement Sunday. “Paul is an incredible talent and a premier two-way player, and we were fortunate to spend the five years with him. … We made numerous trades to pair Paul with Kawhi, but instead we competed for five seasons. While we fell short of our ultimate goal, we are grateful for the opportunity with Paul.”
Despite having the NBA's richest owner in billionaire former Microsoft executive Steve Ballmer, the Clippers were unwilling to offer George a four-year contract that would extend through his age-37 season. Clippers executive Lawrence Frank suggested the NBA's new salary-cap rules, which include stiff fines and restrictions on the league's highest-spending teams, could influence the team's direction and George's free-agent decisions.
“We negotiated with Paul and his representatives for many months and came to an agreement that was satisfactory to both parties, but there were significant gaps,” the Clippers said. “The gaps were significant.”
