The Clippers can be said to have experienced a very awkward offseason, and the management and George have been unwilling to make certain concessions on the issue of treating Paul George, and the two sides eventually parted ways. From the perspective of the Clippers, it must be okay not to give George a 4-year contract with a maximum salary, after all, his performance over the years is obvious to everyone, and George is not a player worthy of a super maximum salary. But let him go, due to the Clippers' salary space problem, they can't bring in an All-Star player of comparable strength, and can only replace him with a series of role players, anyway, in terms of strength, the Clippers are somewhat reduced. refused to take a pay cut, said goodbye to the Clippers, and repeatedly slapped himself in the face, and the management saw everything clearly and was relieved as soon as possible.
The parting of ways between the Clippers and George, in fact, this is even within the expectations of many people, after all, George's words and deeds, his selfish and unwilling to sacrifice for the championship, fans are more or less clear. But then again, the end of George's cooperation with the Clippers is over, but in his personal podcast, George mentioned the Clippers many times and tried to discredit them, which caused crazy complaints from the outside world. Earlier, in his latest podcast episode, George talked about his years of playing for the Clippers, which he called playing for the Clippers was like playing for the second team (Team B) in Los Angeles. As soon as these remarks came out, George once again caused bombardment and complaints from the outside world.
Some media immediately dug up George's remarks when he joined the Clippers, he said that he has been a fan of the Clippers since he was a child and has always liked Kobe, which caused fierce controversy at the time. When he signed a four-year, $190 million contract extension with the Clippers in 20, George also said he owed the Clippers a championship trophy. At the same time, fans are starting to expose George's shortcomings, and no matter which team he goes to, he will say a series of things like he loves the city and wants to bring a championship trophy to the city. And for his old club, George basically doesn't have any good words, he will treat his old club as worthless, as if the team he has played for all these years owes him.
And after George said that Philadelphia made him feel the warmth of home, many people recalled that George originally called the Pacers home and wanted to return to his hometown in Los Angeles, and also called the Thunder his home and wanted to win the championship for the Thunder, and curry favor with the Clippers, saying that he wanted to end up with the Clippers. To put it mildly, George is a "grass on the wall" in layman's terms, he wants to get everything, he wants to be respected, and he is not willing to sacrifice, but he can't get convincing results. Just like before, he said on the podcast that he wants the Pacers, Thunder, and Clippers to retire his jerseys, which caused fans to laugh. Obviously, George's strength, behavior, coupled with his brainless rhetoric and selfish style, will only lead to ruin in the end.
Repeatedly slapping himself in the face, this is already commonplace for George. From the perspective of the Clippers, although George's departure has dealt a certain blow to the strength of their roster, to tell the truth, the tough attitude of the Clippers management this time is worthy of recognition. Remember after being nailed to the shame post in the 19-20 season, when the Clippers also faced George's contract extension issues. At that point, the Clippers will have to make a decision to either keep George with a super-cap salary or just watch him go. In the end, the Clippers management, who did not want the "Galaxy Battleship" to end so hastily, gritted their teeth and gave George a four-year, $190 million contract. Despite knowing that this is a premium contract, the Clippers chose to give it a go for the sake of the stability of the core roster and the overall competitiveness of the team.
Everyone knows the rest of the matter, George can't play the stability of a top-paid player, his overall stats and performance are only an ordinary All-Star level, and in the playoffs, George will have a lot of ups and downs, not up to the level of a leader. What's more, over the years, the Clippers have actually tried to trade George away, but no team in the league is willing to accept such an exaggerated contract. Of course, high-paid players like Gobert and Porzingis have been pursued by the team over the years, but it is clear that George is not attractive in the market.
If the Clippers give the 34-year-old George a four-year, $212 million contract and force him to stay, to put it mildly, they will just force this disappointing core roster for a few more years. After 3-4 years of continued dull disappointment, the Clippers still have to face the problem of roster restructuring. It's better to give up on George now, bring in some cost-effective players, and launch a final assault on the championship. If this lineup doesn't work, the Clippers can re-enter the rebuilding phase, stop the loss early, and not go further down a path that is already wrong.