Paul George Reveals Issues With Los Angeles Clippers

Paul George revealed what went wrong

Kiyoshi Mio-USA TODAY Sports

Paul George seemed like he was going to be a member of the LA Clippers for life. Then suddenly, he left the team one unexpected night for the Philadelphia 76ers. According to George, it was a long time coming of disconnect with the Clippers.

On the newest episode of Podcast P by Wave Sports, Paul George revealed the disconnect that happened with the Clippers as he tried to renegotiate his contract.

“Just to put it out there, I never wanted to leave LA," George said. "Initially, I was not trying to leave LA. LA is home, this is where I wanted to finish at, and I wanted to work as hard as possible to win one in LA... As it played out though, the first initial deal was I thought kind of disrespectful, right and again, in all of this, no hard feelings, no love lost..it's a business like you said. So the first initial deal was like two years, 60. So I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Two years, 60? That’s crazy! I'm not signing that."

George then got his initial reported offer of two years, $60 million up to $45 million a year, but that wasn't enough for him. Once George heard Kawhi Leonard was offered $49-50 million a year, he wanted the same.

"Then I hear wind of what they're going to give Kawhi so I'm like, just give me what Kawhi got," George said.. Y'all view us the same. We came here together, we want to finish this shit together. I'll take what Kawhi got, I was cool with that and we were still taking less. Kawhi took less, so if Kawhi takes less, I’m not going to, it’s not about me being paid more than him. I'm going to take what he got. They didn't want to do that."

Paul George: "Kawhi is number one, and I'm totally fine with it... I'll publicly say I'm the two and he's the one. There's no ego. My job is to make everybody better." pic.twitter.com/fv39LlNvUM

— Farbod Esnaashari (@Farbod_E) October 10, 2022

For the past two seasons, Paul George has willingly admitted that he is the number two to Kawhi. His play on the court was that of a number two, and these past playoffs, was more like a number three. Despite that, the Clippers still raised their offer to three years, $150 million. That still wasn't enough for George, and he wanted either a no-trade clause or a four-year, $212 million deal that would have put the Clippers over the second apron.

"I thought I played, played well enough for them to be like, ‘you know what? He's a part of our future.’ I thought I did that," George said. "I thought I earned that. Granted, we didn't win while I was there, but luck has a lot to do with that. We couldn't remain healthy as a unit, but I thought I did enough to earn that. They didn't want to do it. So it was just a stalemate. We came to a stale[mate] and ultimately it was like, alright, that ship has sailed…I love Steve [Ballmer], I love Lawrence [Frank], but at that point it didn't even feel right to come back with that type of energy and be comfortable playing back in LA."

The breakup between Paul George and the LA Clippers largely feels one of a rock between a hard place. George didn't feel desired, and the Clippers wanted flexibility for the future. While both sides have different stories, there's one concrete fact about it all - Paul George did not play well enough to earn a max contract.

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