Goodbye Clippers, Goodbye Little Card! In order to say goodbye to the highest salary, the Clippers are expected to welcome the super rise

Lao Liang commented

2024-05-24 22:34Posted in Shandong Sports Creators

This season, the NBA has reached the division finals stage, the Eastern Celtics have entered the finals with one foot, and the Western Timberwolves and Mavericks have continued to surprise fans. Many of the giants who ended the season early in the first round of the playoffs have begun to plan for next season: the Warriors are considering how to deal with Paul's contract, which may be traded or cut directly, while the Lakers are likely to be recruited at a base salary; Although the new coach of the Lakers has not been determined, the management has stated that the team will be built around the thick eyebrows, but there is also the possibility of picking Bronny in the draft, but one thing is certain, the window for the Lakers Zhan Mei combination to win the championship is getting smaller and smaller, and their favorite Mitchell does not seem to be much interested in the Lakers! And here with the Clippers, Paul George is almost certain to leave the team.

In January this year, the Clippers and Leonard completed a three-year contract extension of $152 million, and Leonard gave up four years and $220 million and took the initiative to reduce his salary and years, which to put it bluntly is to limit Paul George's contract extension and make room for Harden. In the past five months since Leonard's contract extension, George has not made any progress, and in the words of reporter Eisnashari, George has broken down negotiations with the Clippers. The reason is that Leonard's early contract extension directly stuck George's renewal target. Of course, the Clippers want to keep the Big Three configuration, but George wants to get a max salary contract on the one hand, and at the same time he is very important to the trade veto, and Beal is the only one in the league who has the trade veto, which has become a negative asset. The Clippers obviously can't meet these two points, and they won't give George the treatment of the team boss.

What has been established is that in addition to the 76ers, the Knicks are also very interested in George, Knicks president Leon Rose, and Paul George have a close personal relationship, and the team believes that Randle is not enough to assist Brunson's championship needs. Basically, the two sides hit it off. And the Clippers certainly don't care about George's departure, the key is to sign and then trade to get enough chips. Compared with the bad impression left by the 76ers when they traded Harden to the Clippers, the Knicks have plenty of chips for the Clippers to choose from, in addition to the first-time release of Renson + Hart + DiVincenzo + Anunoby The four-man framework remains unchanged, including Bogdan's expiring contract, Randle has 2 years and $63 million left on the contract, including 7 first-round picks in the future and 8 second-round picks.

But there is one thing to note: there is an essential gap between jumping out of the contract and leaving freely, and there is an essential gap between signing and then changing, the Clippers can't afford to give George the 4-year $220 million super cap salary he wants, but they can't accept George jumping out of the contract and leaving freely, and the price of signing first and then changing is expected to be lower than $220 million, but there is no suspense about exceeding Leonard's 3-year $152 million, otherwise George will lose the meaning of leaving the Clippers. In the words of a Fox Sports columnist, if George decides to exercise the player option and then trade, the Knicks will only use Randle + Bogdan's salary is a perfect fit, but the Clippers may ask for a first-round pick. In order to satisfy Leonard, the Clippers traded Alexander + Gallinari + 5 first-round picks for George, and Alexander has grown into the second MVP of the season and has emptied the Clippers' bottom line.

And the Clippers, led by Xiaoka and George, played to the Western Conference finals. In addition to being overturned by the Nuggets due to infighting in the first year, in the next 4 years, the small card was basically plagued by injuries in the playoffs, or directly reimbursed for the season. George, as the second leader, averaged an output of about 23 points per game, which is neither good nor bad. However, after Harden came to the team, George's existence was seriously weakened, and George played with low efficiency with the ball, but it can be used as a stable shooting point and the main offensive point of the transition section, but this is not irreplaceable. Because the team is connected to the organization and control of the court, with Harden presiding over the overall situation, Leonard defending the opponent's core + strong offense, the regular season is indeed trustworthy. The absence of this season's playoffs is mainly due to Leonard's long-term stay at the No. 4 position, and the pressure is indeed very high. To put it bluntly, some of George's high-level data is the value dividend of Xiaoka and Harden.

And once George leaves, in exchange for Randle and Bogdan, Randle has projection and confrontation, and Bogdan is the substitute sharpshooter. And George's decision to leave is actually good for Harden to stay, Harden averaged 21.2 points and 8 assists per game in the playoffs this season, and when Leonard fell, George also became untrustworthy, and the first four games of the first round were almost all supported by Harden. In the words of the Los Angeles media, because of Harden's presence, the Clippers need to change the model of the core of the two-front line. To put it bluntly, the Knicks are looking for a stable second-in-command for Brunson, so that he will not make the playoffs, and the team is only left with DiVincenzo, Hart, and Harden struggling to support. Brunson, the absolute core of the Knicks, according to US media reports, is unwilling to wait until next summer to sign a five-year, $270 million, and is expected to choose a four-year, $160 million contract extension this summer to make concessions for the team.

To put it simply, George's choice to leave for the top salary is also an opportunity for the Knicks to change, after all, their strength level is already the second round of the regular season + the second round of the playoffs in the East, and they can go to the Eastern Conference finals by gritting their teeth. It's an improvement for the Clippers, Randle will share more tasks with Harden in the regular season to relieve Leonard's pressure, and the Clippers will give Leonard two more years at most, and if two years are unsuccessful, they will basically have to rebuild, and as long as Leonard stays healthy at the end of the season, the Clippers have a chance to usher in a super rise.

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