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By Ohm Youngmisuk, ESPN staff writer
Paul George said he didn't want to leave Los Angeles, but that contract extension talks with the Clippers began with a surprisingly “rude” initial offer.
George signed a four-year, $212 million max free agent contract with the Philadelphia 76ers. But the All-Star guard said on “Podcast P with Paul George” that he plans to stay with the team on the three-year, $150 million extension the Clippers gave Kawhi Leonard, but with a no-trade clause. George said the Clippers wouldn't do it and wouldn't give him a four-year, $212 million contract if he didn't have a no-trade clause.
“I didn't want to leave LA,” George said on the podcast. “LA is home and I wanted to finish here and I wanted to try as hard as I could to win in LA. My goal was to be here and commit to LA. But ultimately, I felt like my first contract was a little bit of a disservice. I don't hold any grudges or any love in all of this… this is a business. So my first contract was two years, 60 years. So I was like, wow, wow, wow.”
“That's crazy! I'm like, 'No, I'm not signing that.'”
Before George agreed to a contract with the Sixers at the start of free agency, the Clippers said in a statement that there were “significant gaps” in negotiations to keep the guard in Los Angeles and that the organization had to be mindful of the new collective bargaining agreement, which severely limits roster options for taxpayer-funded teams.
“Going into this offseason, our roster is [with] “We have three great guys over 33 years old, two of whom could become free agents,” the Clippers said of Leonard, George and James Harden, who agreed to a two-year, $70 million free-agent contract to stay with the team.
“We wanted to keep them on a contract that would allow us to continue building our team within the constraints of the new CBA. We negotiated with Paul and his agent for months and came to a deal that was satisfactory to both sides, but there was a big gap. The gap was big.”
George recounted that the Clippers' first offer came in October. The Clippers, who could have signed George and Leonard to four-year, $221 million extensions, signed Leonard to a three-year, $150 million extension in early January. Leonard explained that he signed for less than the maximum amount, in part because he wanted to keep George and Harden.
At the time, George was optimistic he could get a similar extension with the Clippers, but he said the team was “only going to gradually raise his salary from the initial offer to around $44 million to $45 million.”
“Then I heard rumors about how much they were going to pay Kawhi, and I said, 'Give me what Kawhi's getting,'” George said. “'Everybody looks at us the same way. We came here together, and we want to finish this shit together.' I'd be happy to take what Kawhi's getting. I was fine with that, and we still got less. Kawhi got less, so just because he got less doesn't mean I'm getting paid more than him.”
“Everybody was like, give him that, give me that. They didn't want to do that.”
George said he decided to put the negotiations aside because it was before the All-Star break and he didn't want to cause any offense. When asked by reporters during the season how his contract negotiations were going, George's answers were shorter, to the point where he refused to talk about the subject before the playoffs began.
George, 34, appeared in 74 regular-season games, his most since joining the Clippers prior to the 2019-20 season. The nine-time All-Star averaged 22.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.5 assists while shooting career-best 47.1 percent from the field, 41.3 percent from 3-point range and 90.7 percent from the free throw line.
George said after the season that the Clippers were willing to offer him the same amount they gave Leonard, but he also asked for a no-trade clause, and when the team rejected it, George said he asked for a four-year, $212 million contract to give him the contract he wanted in case he was later traded by the Clippers.
George said he spoke with Leonard before leaving for Philadelphia and that Leonard was supportive.
“It was an obligation for me to have that conversation with Kawhi,” George said. “He knew, 'Pick up your bag.' I consider Kawhi one of my best friends in this league. That's who I'm with. Our families love each other. So it was hard to say goodbye to him, just how much I enjoyed playing with him. That was a big burden on me. Oh man, to say goodbye to my son. We talked. He gave me his blessing, 'Hey, do what's best for you.'”
Since the two decided to team up to become the Clippers in the summer of 2019, Leonard and George's time with the Clippers has been plagued by injuries, and the two have only appeared in one Western Conference finals in five seasons together before being separated.
“We didn’t stay healthy as a team,” George said, “but I think we did enough to deserve the honor. [three-year, $150-million deal with a no-trade clause]They didn't want to do it. So it was a stalemate. Eventually it was like, that's it. … I love Steve. [Ballmer]I love Lawrence [Frank]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.”
