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It was obvious from many months ago that the 2024 offseason was going to be a crucial one for the Philadelphia 76ers. They had been preserving their cap space for that very moment, refusing to sign James Harden to the max contract he desired while running out the huge contract Tobias Harris signed in 2019. Their gambit paid off; Paul George, who is the ideal fit alongside Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey, decided to leave the Los Angeles Clippers to join the budding powerhouse in Philly.
Morey has always been a front office executive who tended to go big or go home. He knows that acquiring stars is paramount to building a title-contending team and he's not afraid to wait at the right time to pounce. But even he had to admit that going that route put the 76ers' future at so much risk.
“We were taking what we thought was the best plan to keep ourselves in title contention, but it definitely was a risky plan. They don’t always work out, but we felt like all the other plans were worse,” Morey told Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic.
With all the cap space the 76ers had freed up with all of their previous maneuvers, striking out in free agency would have been painful for them. Maxey was due to sign his max extension, which would have eaten up the team's cap space, thereby making it an urgent matter for them to secure George's services as early as possible — which Morey and company pulled off.
But as a famous general manager contemporary of Morey once said, “scared money don't make none.” Morey decided to throw caution to the wind in favor of shooting for the best-case scenario, and the 76ers are now reaping the rewards.
“It was definitely risky, yeah, but it was also the best plan. A risky plan doesn’t mean it’s a bad plan. It just could be the best plan. It was definitely the best plan,” Morey added.
Is the addition of Paul George enough to get the 76ers over the hump?
Daryl Morey is entering the fifth year of his stint as the 76ers' president of basketball operations, and it feels as though the 2024-25 season will provide the 76ers' best opportunity to win a championship yet under his watch.
Paul George may not performed to the best of his ability during the 2024 NBA playoffs, but he won't have to shoulder as big of a burden on the 76ers as he did on the Los Angeles Clippers. George is looking like the third option on the team — a role that might suit him best at this juncture of his career.
George is the ultimate fill-the-gaps kind of star that every contending team is better off having. He is one of the best floor-spacers in the league, he can elevate his game to fill a larger role on either end of the floor in the event of an injury to either Joel Embiid or Tyrese Maxey, and with the energy freed up by taking on a smaller role when the team is at full strength, he can go back to being at his best on the defensive end.
The addition of George also made the 76ers a more attractive free-agent destination; they have solid depth across every position, and the 76ers appear to be well-equipped to keep up in the Eastern Conference arms race.
