NBA Champion Slams Clippers for Losing Paul George to 76ers

He compared the Lakers to the Clippers.

Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

After five seasons together, the Kawhi Leonard and Paul George era has finally come to an end for the LA Clippers. To make matters worse, it came with a very ugly ending, one that's pointed a ton of fingers at the Clippers.

During an episode of NBA Today, former NBA champion Richard Jefferson absolutely blasted the Clippers for not paying Paul George the max contract and allowing him to leave to the 76ers. He brought up the Clippers' history with trading Blake Griffin after signing him to a max during the rant.

"The Clippers have now shown a history of this, superstar walking away," Jefferson said. "They traded him out. Are they going to take care of their guys? Are they going to look after the guys that have helped turn their franchise into a respectable franchise? The answer is no. They did it with Blake Griffin."

"The Clippers do not look like the type of organization that if you are a superstar, you want to go invest in." 😳 @Rjeff24 says the Clippers could have trouble recruiting future superstars after losing Paul George 👀 pic.twitter.com/uCz1NrMG1V

— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) July 2, 2024

The big thing that Richard Jefferson is failing to realize is that the Clippers were trying to avoid the second apron rule due to the new CBA. From the moment the new CBA was formed, it was clear that both Kawhi Leonard and James Harden were willing to take a pay cut to make things work - Paul George was not willing to once Philadelphia had a max offer available. George was not willing to let the Clippers avoid the second apron like his co-stars did because he wanted more money.

The rules of the first and second apron. /

"When superstar players start deciding do they want to go to the Clippers, what are they going to look at it? They are going to look at the last few superstars that came there. I've seen it throughout my career," Jefferson said. "If you take care of superstars, [like] LeBron James, seeing how the Lakers took care of Kobe. I'm going to come here at the end of my career and I'm going to give you everything that I have. The Clippers do not look like the type of organization that if you are a superstar, you want to go invest in."

The other thing that Richard Jefferson refuses to admit is that even though the Lakers took care of Kobe Bryant, every superstar and star passed up going there until LeBron James came along. Russell Westbrook, LaMarcus Aldridge, Paul George, and other players were among the many who refused to join. The only reason Anthony Davis joined the team was beacuse of LeBron James, not because of the Lakers themselves.

Unfortunately for the Clippers, they're going to just have to deal with the scrutiny that they're facing. They failed with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George as a duo, and no one seems to want to care about the facts with the new second apron rule. Those are, unfortunately, the breaks.

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