Recently, the Los Angeles Clippers found themselves on the wrong side of the NBA news media cycle when they lost free agent wing Paul George to the Philadelphia 76ers after they were unable to come to terms with him on a new long term contract with the franchise. Instead, George signed a four year, maximum contract with Philadelphia that will move him back to the Eastern Conference for the first time in eight years, and leaves the Clippers without many paths to true contention in an increasingly crowded Western Conference playoff picture.
Recently, George took to his own Podcast P with Paul George Podcast, presented by Wave Sport + Entertainment, to break down his side of the failed negotiations with the Clippers, noting that Los Angeles' offer started at 2 years, $60 million, an offer George viewed as “disrespectful,” and also that Los Angeles was unwilling to give him a no trade clause on a four year contract with the team.
One person who is skeptical of how the Clippers handled things is none other than NBA insider Rachel Nichols, who recently took to FS1's Undisputed to relay her thoughts.
“I think they kind of decided to call it,” said Nichols, having to raise her voice over a constantly interrupting Keyshawn Johnson, via UNDISPUTED on X, the social media platform formerly referred to as Twitter. “…If the choice was, be locked into this, versus not, that is the choice they made, plus you had to pay (James) Harden. I'm not saying I would have made that choice, but I see what they were thinking. I don't think it was, ‘Oh, we don't want to give him an extra few dollars.'…I will say, if you've made that choice, why not make it earlier in the season? I see their logic, but why not make this decision earlier in the season and get something for him?”
Indeed, the Clippers lost arguably the fourth best player in their franchise history for absolutely nothing, and even though the team has made some decent free agent signings since then, Derrick Jones Jr. and Nicholas Batum don't exactly fill the void that George is sure to leave with the team.
What is the Clippers' ceiling now?
Probably not that high.
First, one must consider that, considering his history, Kawhi Leonard is unlikely to enjoy as healthy of a season going forward as he did in 2023-24, now being past the age of 33 years old. James Harden is also no spring chicken in his own right, and the Clippers don't have a whole lot in the way of young talent.
While George does have his well-documented flaws and some epic playoff flameouts, he remains one of the most talented two-way players in the league, and is not someone that Los Angeles will be able to easily replace. With other teams in the Western Conference making big moves this offseason to get better, it would be objectively difficult to say that this Clippers team is in the upper echelon, or even second tier, in that conference at the current juncture.
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