Paul George went to sign with the Philadelphia 76ers this offseason after months of failed contract negotiations with the Los Angeles Clippers. His father Paul George Sr. said that the Clippers’ disloyalty betrayed his son.
On Monday’s episode of “Podcast P with Paul George,” George Sr. blasted the Clippers for how they handled his son’s contract negotiations.
“I felt like they stabbed us in the back because I thought Paul did a whole lot for the team,” the elder George said. “I think he gave them 110%, and what he was asking, it wasn’t a whole lot. But they saw something different.”
George Sr. thought of making his son stay in California by joining the Lakers, but it wasn’t feasible for the team. “I was looking at going next door, but they [Lakers] already spent too much money,” he said.
Paul George wanted to retire with the Clippers
Paul George said in a July episode of his podcast that he planned to finish his basketball career with the Los Angeles Clippers. However, just like his father, he felt “disrespected” by the franchise during contract extension negotiations, and so opted to become a free agent and sign with the Philadelphia 76ers.
“LA is home,” George said. “This is where I wanted to finish at, and I wanted to work as hard as possible to win one in LA. “That was the goal: to be here and be committed to LA.”
George noted that after the Clippers initially offered him a two-year, $60 million contract extension, they never increased their offer past $44 million per year.
“As it played out, though, the first initial [offer] was, I thought, kind of disrespectful,” George continued.
According to the nine-time NBA All-Star, he wanted the Clippers to offer him a deal similar to the one they offered to his then-teammate Kawhi Leonard, who signed a three-year, $149.5 million maximum extension with the team in January.
“I’m not going to say, ‘I want more than Kawhi.’ It’s not about me being paid more than him,” George said. “I’mma take what he got. ‘Y’all gave him that, give me that.’ They didn’t want to do that.”
And so he moved to Philly, forming a new formidable trio with Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey.
In the statement the Clippers released last June upon Paul’s move to free agency, they said, “We negotiated for months with Paul and his representative on a contract that would make sense for both sides, and we were left far apart. The gap was significant. We understand and respect Paul’s decision to look elsewhere for his next contract. We explored an opt-in and trade scenario, but it would have left us in a similar position under the new CBA, with very little asset value to justify the restrictions.”
The Clippers concluded the statement by saying, “We will miss Paul. At the same time, we’re excited by the opportunities we’ve now been afforded, including greater flexibility under the new CBA.”
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