Paul George has spoken about how things ended at the Clippers after he signed with the 76ers and revealed that he never actually wanted to leave LAC.
However, a “disrespectful” Clippers offer in October soured negotiations.
“Just to put it out there, like, I never wanted to leave LA,” George said on Podcast P with Paul George. “Initially I was not trying to leave LA. LA is home, this is where I wanted to finish at. I wanted to work as hard as possible to win one in LA. That was the goal, to be here and be committed to LA.
“As it played out though, like the first initial deal was, I thought, kind of disrespectful. Again, in all of this, no hard feelings, no love lost. …It’s a business.
“So the first initial deal was like two years, 60 [million]. So I’m like, whoa, whoa, whoa. … That’s crazy. So I’m like, nah. I’m not signing that.”
At this point, the team could have signed George and Leonard to an extension up to four years and worth $221 million.
George’s running mate, Kawhi Leonard signed a $150-million extension in early January and Kawhi said he took less money so the team could retain other All-Star veterans PG-13 and James Harden.
So George thought he’d be able to sign a similar extension, but explained that the Clippers would only “go up inches, inches, inches” to where it was around 44-45 million per year after the initial offer.
“Then I hear wind of what they’re going to give Kawhi so I’m like, ‘Just give me what Kawhi got,’” George said. “‘Y’all view us the same. We came here together, we want to finish this s— together.’ I’ll take what Kawhi got, no problem, I was cool with that and we were still taking less. Kawhi took less, so if Kawhi takes less, it’s not about me being paid more than him.
“Y’all give him that, give me that. They didn’t want to do that.”
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