Paul George opts out of $48.8 million contract with Clippers, will become free agent

For most of the NBA season, there was an expectation that Paul George and the Clippers would work out their differences and agree to a contract extension — even George and the Clippers said they thought it would happen.

It never really got close. George wanted the max the Clippers could give of four years and $221 million — with that fourth year being critical — but the Los Angeles offer never got close to that. The Clippers offered about what Kawhi Leonard agreed to, three years at a discount of $152 million.

In the face of that, George has decided to opt out of his $48.8 million contract for next season and test free agency, a story broken by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

There had been growing speculation that George would opt-in to facilitate a sign-and-trade to the Golden State Warriors, who would give him the max. However, that is now off the table, he is a free agent. (There are scenarios where George could still be signed and traded to a salary cap space team, which the Warriors are not, but any team that does so is hard capped at the first tax apron, $178.7 million. The Warriors are already well above that number.)

George hitting free agency is good news for Philadelphia, which will “aggressively pursue Paul George and is a legitimate threat in luring the star” to the East Coast, reports Chris Haynes of TNT and Bleacher Report. Philadelphia has long been thought of as George’s top free agent destination — put George between Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid and the 76ers are contenders in the East (many people around the NBA were skeptical of reports the 76ers had cooled on PG13.

Orlando was another team mentioned as a cap space team that could target George, but that seems a long shot.

The Clippers are still in the mix. George likes playing on the West Coast and having his family at every home game, which is not happening in Philly. However, this is a business and the dollars(and years) will do the talking.