With a maximum of $233 million in 4 years, the Warriors decisively sent a super maximum salary contract, George set an NBA record, the Clippers had a windfall, but Harden was in a dilemma!
Text: Lao Kan Kanqiu
Editor|Lao Kan Kanqiu
The NBA2023-24 season has come to an end, and the Boston Celtics swept away the leaves in the autumn breeze and easily lifted the 18th championship trophy in team history. However, compared with the Celtics, many teams have played unexpected performances: for example, the Bucks in the East, after trading Lillard, even if they changed three head coaches in a row, their record did not rise but fell, and they lost the first round of the playoffs again; The 76ers gave so many fantasies at the start of the season that Embiid returned from injury, and many media outlets thought they would be the team with the greatest probability of finishing in the East. However, Embiid in the playoffs has not changed, and it is understandable that he has not touched the floor of the Eastern Conference finals in his career so far.
The same is true on the Western side, where the Suns owner made a big effort to form a 'Big Three' team, but was swept out of the first round by the young Timberwolves 4-0, which is a shame. However, even more shameful than the Suns is the Warriors, whose owner paid the most expensive luxury tax in the league of $176.9 million (the first in the league), but lost to the Kings in the play-offs, and did not even touch the threshold of the playoffs, which is really surprising. Therefore, not long after the team was out, the team began to have turmoil, and various trade information flew all over the sky, among which Klay Thompson, Paul, Wiggins and Moody were the center of the whirlpool of public opinion and were marked on the first page of the trade list.
Among them, according to the previous news summary, Klay Thompson's departure has basically become a foregone conclusion, not only because of the sluggish attitude of the team management towards his contract extension, but more importantly, many people in the team believe that Thompson is no longer an indispensable part of the team's future, which is the fundamental reason for his departure. And just today, the American media NBACentral also announced the latest edition of Thompson's next home odds: the Magic ranked first with +110, surpassing the Warriors for the first time, the latter fell to second with +165, and the Lakers ranked third with +550.
Clearly, Warriors management no longer believes that Thompson can continue to play the role of the team's second leader in his current state. Therefore, while dealing with Thompson's contract, the team also began to actively explore the free market and trade market information, seeking a new best second player. According to a joint report by ESPN's Brian Windhorst and a number of well-known journalists, insiders revealed that the Warriors are willing to give Paul George a four-year contract with a maximum salary.
Frankly, Paul George values salary cap more than loyalty, and he wants a four-year, full-cap contract. As far as I know, there have been a number of teams that have offered him a salary cap and are ready to trade him for him. And the Golden State Warriors have become frontrunners for those teams, and they've been looking for a big-name star to join, and I remember calling James at the trade deadline last season. And, George himself wanted to stay in the West, and that's the key. Brian Windhorst said on the show.
In the 2023-24 regular season, George averaged 22.6 points, 5.2 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 1.5 steals per game (6th in the league), hit 243 three-pointers (5th in the league), and broke the all-time three-point shooting record. In addition, George also reached a career milestone of 17,000 points this season. In the playoffs, George's stats declined, averaging 19.5 points, 6.8 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 1.2 steals per game.
According to information provided by ESPN salary expert Bobby Marks, after this season, George currently has a one-year player option of $48.78 million, and according to the league's latest collective bargaining agreement, even if George gives up the final year of the player option, he can only sign a maximum salary of up to 4 years with the Clippers or other teams, of which he can sign a maximum contract of 4 years and 233 million US dollars with the Clippers.
Therefore, if the Warriors want to get George with the maximum salary, they must reach a sign-and-trade deal with the Clippers, in which Paul and Wiggins may be part of the deal to match the salary, and Moody may also be one of the young players that the Warriors package away. If this deal goes through, the Clippers will not lose money, not only to get championship defensive forward Wiggins, but also Moody's windfall. Anyone who has watched the Warriors know that Moody has an old style of play and a big heart, and it is not that he plays badly because he has so little playing time, on the contrary, as long as he is given a reasonable amount of time, he often plays efficiently, and now this situation is only because of Kerr's meritorious basketball.
However, there are also more embarrassing ones, if the deal is completed, Paul will return to the Clippers and reunite with Harden, and the result can be imagined. It was unpleasant for the two to separate at the beginning, and now looking back, will Harden renew his contract, which is also a dilemma?