Now that the NBA has crowned a champion for the 2023-24 season, teams can get on to the business of improving their rosters and giving themselves a better shot at winning it all next June.
While this off-season market may be less attractive and loaded, there is one star who could be available: Paul George.
The Los Angeles Clippers standout has a player option for next season, and he could also sign an extension to remain with the club beyond that.
NBA insider Chris Haynes said on SiriusXM NBA Radio that George deciding what to do this offseason could be the big domino to fall that would then dictate what other teams do.
“It could be a big domino effect depending on what Paul George decides to do”@ChrisBHaynes joined @TermineRadio and @Jumpshot8 at the Finals last week and detailed the ramifications of Paul George’s decision this summer as the off-season officially gets underway pic.twitter.com/H7rtUkRkqd
— SiriusXM NBA Radio (@SiriusXMNBA) June 18, 2024
George is a perennial All-Star, and even at age 34, he could be a major addition to an NBA club if he decides to leave Los Angeles.
The team most linked to him is the Philadelphia 76ers, who have a very good roster but may need one or two more pieces to become a true championship contender.
George was traded to the Clippers five years ago at around the same time they signed two-time NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard as a free agent, but despite often being picked to reach the championship series or win it all, they have nothing to show for it.
They reached the Western Conference Finals just once, and since doing so in 2021, they haven’t even won a single playoff series.
Both George and Leonard are injury-prone, and George has a history of being very inconsistent in the playoffs.
But if George were to go to the Sixers, he wouldn’t be depended on there as much as he is with the Clippers, which would take pressure off of him while also giving him perhaps his best shot ever at a world title.
