Philadelphia 76ers GM Criticizes Clippers for Paul George's Free Agency

The LA Clippers allowed Paul George to leave for nothing.

Los Angeles Clippers forward Paul George (13) celebrates after a three point basket in the fourth quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports

The LA Clippers shocked the world when they allowed Paul George to leave for the Philadelphia 76ers for nothing in return. It wasn't just fans who were shocked, but NBA executives around the league, even Daryl Morey.

During an interview on the Rights to Ricky Sanchez: The Sixers Podcast show, the Philadelphia 76ers President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey opened up on the process of acquiring Paul George. It turns out, the 76ers brass has tuned into every episode of Podcast P and followed George meticulously.

“We had listened to every Podcast P podcast and, you know, literally like had been taking notes on them for months basically," Morey said. "And so this press release comes out and we’re all looking at each other, we’re like, ‘This seems good.’ And then we’re reading it again, and we’re like, ‘Yeah, that’s really good. What are the Clippers doing? We don’t understand."

While the Clippers were playing a game of chicken with Paul George all season, Daryl Morey expected LA to cave at the final minute. Morey believed that the Clippers drew a line, but were going undraw it at the final minute - that did not happen.

"We had heard that they sort of were going to probably draw a line, but we actually thought the whole time they were going to, and I’ve had this before ... I was going after Chris Bosh years ago, he was coming to us because Miami had drawn a line, and then Miami undrew the line at the last minute," Morey explained. "So I really thought that was most likely what would happen," Morey said.

In retrospect, if there's one thing that the Clippers absolutely were not going to budge on, it was going over the second-apron tax. If the new CBA never existed, then one could guarantee that Paul George would still be a member of the LA Clippers next season.