The first free agent of this summer is, strictly speaking, a teammate. None of the clubs pursuing Paul George are doing so to hand him the keys to their attack; Much of George’s appeal is that you don’t have to. He plays a balanced game that is attractive specifically because it is neither dominant nor intrusive – an easy fit for virtually any formation and any style. As such, it’s no surprise that so many winning teams are interested in signing or trading for George, although the scale of that interest gives him surprising power. The off-season market now effectively depends on his decision.
What George’s suitors have to offer in exchange for his versatile and well-rounded game is the chance to join an established team and make something more of it. What the Clippers have to offer, in comparison, is the familiar: an opportunity for George to continue playing with the same running mate in the same organization while living and playing in what is more or less his town native. George spent years fishing his way back to Southern California. It stands to reason that he would not be easily lured. Yet the Clippers had the opportunity to extend George’s contract by nearly a year, and no deal was reached, even though Kawhi Leonard ostensibly signed his own three-year extension in January.
This contrast speaks to the disconnect evident in the negotiations between George and the Clippers, but also to the different status levels involved. A-list superstars like Leonard almost never make it to free agency anymore. They are extended or exchanged, generally at their request, and are accommodated to the end on their own terms. The second stars are attractive enough to tip the market, but not SO It seems that the teams are so attractive that they cannot participate. Free agency used to be a time when teams sorted themselves out and took risks, reinventing themselves in the image of a superstar. Now is the time for teams to improve what they do without really changing who they are.
The reported issue with George’s return to the Clippers is his interest in a four-year contract, one year longer and one year longer than the team is inclined to offer. The team’s concern is certainly fair. George, now 34, played in about two-thirds of the Clippers’ games during his five seasons with the team, his availability often staggered on a curve only because Leonard played even less. The idea of these Clippers could never withstand the chronic injuries and increasing surgeries of the two stars who were supposed to hold it all together. The 2023-24 season was George’s healthiest campaign in half a decade, but he’s now five years removed from his blockbuster trade to the Clippers and five more years away, with little to show for it. Time has made George a different player. He can no longer take on high-level defensive assignments every night, or at least he shouldn’t. His jumper is as steady as ever, but he gets to the basket less frequently than at any point in his career.
Still, the Clippers can’t really afford to lose George, even if they present themselves as if they could. Push a little too hard and PG could end up with a Sixer, or maybe even a Knick, while a Clippers lineup led by Leonard (assuming he’s healthy) and James Harden (assuming he re-signs) is headlining the opening of the Intuit Dome. The best version of George flanks other stars, working the ball in ways that allow players as special as Leonard and Harden to flourish. And the best version of the Clippers relies on George to provide the connective tissue between otherwise disparate perimeter talents. Even when Kawhi was out of the lineup, George changed and adapted to provide a wide range of lineups regardless of their needs. It’s possible that the free agency rumors, the join-and-trade scenarios and Joel Embiid’s side eye are just theater, a way for George to get what he wanted from the Clippers in first place. Yet other quality teams appear quite willing to play along, with their hopes resting on the possibility of these negotiations going sour.
Basketball fame usually brings up iso work and takeover scoring. George has that in his game, but what makes him such an ideal second star is how he brings an entire team together. His skills make room for teammates of all kinds; George can fill the gap in defenders, compensate for limited playmakers and create lanes for straight-line drivers. These qualities could become even more valuable in the era of the second apron. The league’s biggest spending teams will now depend more than ever on advantageous talent, useful in some ways but clearly flawed in others. And this kind of conditional actor does well next to a public service star like George. It is not designed to carry a team, but rather to support one, linking a rotation to make each part stronger.
It’s because of this flexibility that, even after 14 seasons, George remains the closest thing the NBA has to a platonic ideal on the wing. Superstars like Leonard are exceptional figures, so absurd in their ability to generate offense that they are given a kind of usage and latitude that other players don’t have. The only way to play like Kawhi Leonard is to be at least vaguely, maybe as good as Kawhi Leonard, otherwise a rising wing would never have the chance to create in the same way Kawhi does in the first place. But there is something about George’s game that every winger of any age and type can emulate, which is how he became an archetype for an entire generation of wingers. Prospects from Brandon Miller to GG Jackson can map George’s game onto theirs and see a kind of fluid, approachable stardom. Leonard made an all-time career out of raw efficiency and erratic edges. George found his way to a more fluid style, in form and function, that positions him, even today, as one of the smoothest second options in the sport.
George and Leonard played well together when their bodies gave them the opportunity, although that was largely because George could play well with anyone. That’s what’s so appealing about his free agency; teams are lining up to hand a massive contract to an aging wing with a concerning injury history because he makes so much sense alongside any other star. George would be a dream duo for Embiid, darting in and out of dribble handoffs and shooting at weakside defenses. He would be a perfect pressure reliever for Jalen Brunson, who would benefit not only from George’s first-class shooting, but also from the length he would bring to New York’s lineup. Alongside George, Paolo Banchero would see the light of day for the first time in his Magic career, all without compromising Orlando’s slender, adaptable essence. The league landscape might not change with George’s signing — or with the decision of any player who enters free agency these days — but the fate of at least a few teams might.
At this point, George tried to form his own team, work alongside one of the league’s most utilized superstars, and lead a modern superteam. Returning to the Clippers would be a continuation of that last point, a return to essentially the same well-known competitive situation he chose five years ago. It might also, in a basketball sense, be one of the toughest avenues available to him. There is clear, indisputable evidence that having multiple star wings can produce a title, as the pieces of confetti still scattered throughout TD Garden can support. Yet these star pairings require a type of work and negotiation that others don’t: in terms of role, specialty and literal space on the court. The best superstar wing tandems can be overwhelming, even unstoppable. But a pair of do-it-all wings must navigate around each other, blending in ways that aren’t always intuitive.
George makes sense for any team, but at this point in his career, not every team makes sense. for him. A lot changed for George when the Clippers added Harden, a dedicated playmaker who freed him from the play-to-play logistics of generating offense and allowed him to take more advantage of his off-court strengths. ball. That could be an incentive to come back — one more reason to hope that, if only the Clippers’ stars could stay healthy, they could finally deliver on all their promises on paper. It could also be a window to the other side and a reminder that there are other talented teams that operate with a kind of ease and structure that the Clippers never really had.