Paul George is taking his talents to Philadelphia.
The nine-time All-Star agreed to a four-year, $212-million deal in the early hours of Monday with the Philadelphia 76ers, according to reports by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and The Athletic‘s Shams Charania.
The move came after George’s decision to decline his $48.7-million player option to return to the Los Angeles Clippers on Saturday.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski, George’s agent Aaron Mintz spoke over the weekend with Clippers president Lawrence Frank, which did not lead to movement toward a deal. Both sides acknowledged to Wojnarowski that a return was “unlikely.”
Minutes after Wojnarowski’s report, the Clippers said in a statement that “Paul has informed us that he is signing his next contract with another team … we negotiated for months … the gap was significant.”
Philadelphia entered the off-season with the second-most cap space, according to Spotrac, and can offer George the four-year deal he appears to want that Los Angeles wasn’t willing to.
George now joins a team featuring fellow All-Stars Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey.
After his first four seasons as a Clipper were plagued by injury, George was able to suit up for 74 games in 2023-24. He averaged 22.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.5 assists on 47.1 per cent shooting from the field and 41.3 per cent from beyond the arc last season.
The Clippers originally acquired George in a trade with the Thunder in July 2020 to pair with free agent acquisition Kawhi Leonard.
The Sixers were busy over the weekend, reportedly also agreeing to deals with guards Kelly Oubre Jr. and centre Andre Drummond.
