Ivica Zubac and the Los Angeles Clippers are facing an uphill battle towards championship contention after the departure of star Paul George in free agency.
George has notified the Clippers that he intends to leave them in free agency and plans to sign a four-year, $212 million deal with the Philadelphia 76ers when players are allowed to sign contracts in a few days.
Ivica Zubac, who played for the Croatian National Team in an international friendly against Luka Doncic and Slovenia.
Croatia defeated Slovenia, 108-92, with Zubac recording 18 points, eight rebounds, and five assists. Dario Saric added 19 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists in the win.
In the loss, Luka Doncic finished with 26 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 assists on just 8-of-23 shooting from the field.
After the international win, Ivica Zubac took time to speak with George Efkarpides of Amerikanos24 about his good friend and former teammate in Paul George.
“That’s a great friend,” Zubac said postgame. We played together for 5 seasons. It’s definitely tough seeing him leave. He was a big piece. It’s gonna be hard to replicate for us, he did so much, but there’s a business side [to basketball]. Unfortunately, that was the best decision for him, we’re gonna miss him a lot, but we signed some new guys. We got to work with what we have already and I’m sure we’re gonna have a great season.”
George would not able to make his decision and signing official until July 6th, but he already told the Clippers he will not be returning to the organization.
Early Friday night, the Clippers put out a statement regarding Paul George and the meeting the two sides had.
“Paul has informed us that he is signing his next contract with another team,” the Clippers said. “Paul is a tremendous talent and an elite two-way player. We feel fortunate for the five years we spent with him. Over that span, he went to three All Star Games, made the most 3-pointers in franchise history and helped lead the team to a place it had never been. His performances in Games 5 and 6 against Utah in 2021 won’t be forgotten by anyone associated with the Clippers.
“We traded a lot to pair Paul and Kawhi, and in exchange, we had five seasons of contention. Even though we fell short of our ultimate objective, we appreciate the chances we had with Paul.
“Heading into this offseason, our roster was constructed three great players 33 and over, two of whom could become free agents. We wanted to retain them on contracts that would allow us, under the constraints of the new CBA, to continue building the team.
“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.
“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. Kawhi is an all-NBA player and we believe T Lue is the best coach in the league. We will field a highly competitive team this season, and moving forward, use our organizational advantages to bring top talent to Intuit Dome.”
George spent five seasons with the Clippers averaging 23.0 points, 6.0 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 1.5 steals per game on 45.5 percent shooting from the field, 39.7 percent from three, and 87.9 percent from the free throw line.
While the Clippers may have lost George this summer, they’ve agreed to free agent deals with Derrick Jones Jr., Nicolas Batum, Kris Dunn, and Mo Bamba.
They’re also expected to part ways with guard Russell Westbrook and forward PJ Tucker, both of whom picked up their player options for the 2024-25 seasons.