While Paul George's signing in Philadelphia may have come as a surprise, his departure is anything but unexpected in the Clippers' ranks. That's what Kawhi Leonard and Tyronn Lue, who were in Las Vegas with the American team, assured us. For “The Klaw,” it was even a predictable scenario, and anticipated throughout last season.
After being questioned for the first time by the media on Sunday about this, the former Spurs and Raptors player had avoided explaining how he and his franchise had experienced the departure of one of the major pieces of the team. Asked again about Paul George on Tuesday, he this time showed himself more verbose. ” We knew what was going on even before the season. ” he explained ” We knew what this was going to be like. So we talked about it all along. It's not a surprise. »
“A hard blow” for the Clippers
Paul George explained in his podcast that he did not feel respected by the offers made by the Los Angeles franchise, the first for $60 million over two years. The nine-time All-Star assured that he would have agreed to extend his lease with the Clippers if they had offered him the same contract as Kawhi Leonard, namely $150 million over three years, but with a “no transfer” clause. Which LA did not agree to give him. And Paul George ended up signing with the Sixers for an XXL contract of $212 million over four seasons.
” When you lose an important element like PG, it's complicated to replace ” lamented Tyronn Lue, who spoke several times with his player to try to convince him to stay in the City of Angels. ” I'm disappointed that we didn't get the deal done, disappointed that he's not coming back. It's a big blow to the franchise. We'll have to see how we move forward from this. His departure is unfortunate. »
The Clippers will now have to rely more on the Kawhi Leonard – James Harden tandem, both of whom have been extended in recent months. Kawhi Leonard, however, considers that the weight on his shoulders will be ” the same as last season” .
