The question of George's stay was finally decided, and it was not as we expected.
According to the latest sources, Paul George, who jumped out of his player option not long ago to become a full free agent, chose to reach an agreement with the Philadelphia 76ers who have been chasing him, signing a four-year contract with a maximum salary of $212 million, and this is also the first time George has returned to the East since leaving the Pacers, and he will form a new Big Three with Embiid and Maxey to help the 76ers hit the championship. Speaking of which, the contract offered by the 76ers for George can really be said to be full of sincerity: first of all, the number of years and salary are more than the previous old club Clippers, in addition, this contract is also an incremental contract, $49.2 million next season, and then increased every year, and reached $56.6 million in the fourth year, and the last year is still a player option, giving the option to George, such treatment can really be said to give face.
Since joining forces with Leonard to play for the Clippers in 2019, George has dedicated five years of youth to his hometown basketball, but in the past few years, the Clippers have been unable to win the championship for various reasons, and even unable to enter the Finals stage, and over time he and Leonard are no longer young, not long ago, Leonard was the first to get the guarantee of an early contract extension, but he has never been able to get a satisfactory answer from the Clippers management, So in the end, he chose to jump out of his contract and sign with another team to start over in another place. We don't know if it was the right choice, but from a monetary point of view, he didn't make the wrong choice.
What the 76ers are actually missing now is a forward like George - last season, although the team obtained a lot of expired assets from the Harden trade, and there are some veterans who have proven themselves in the NBA, but the expired assets never seem to meet the requirements of the 76ers, and they are regarded as part of the team's long-term plan, and many times they can only rely on Oubre, who is actually more like a second position, to prop up the third position, and let the regular season and playoffs performance be like the "three masters" of the two Harris is in charge of the power forward position, and now with the arrival of George, the team's intensity and depth on the front line, whether it is offensive or defensive, has enough guarantees, and the structure is perfect: Embiid at center, George at the front, and Maxey who has just renewed his contract in the backcourt, each position has a strong point.
In addition to getting George, because trading Harden freed up quite ample salary space for the 76ers, in addition to giving George a contract that he was very satisfied with and nodded, they also completed a lot of reinforcements in one day: first of all, they signed back the former All-Star center Drummond, who had a brief time for the 76ers in the 2021-2022 season, the former rebounding king can become Embiid's "man behind the back", and then renewed Oubre's contract, The team's wing firepower continues to be guaranteed, in addition to signing Eric Gordon, who previously jumped out of the contract, and just using a veteran base salary contract, which can be described as quite cheap, with the arrival of these players, the team's depth has also risen to a new level - but at the same time, it has to accept the helplessness of Harris, who is also a big contract holder and averages 17+ points per game, is bound to leave the team.
In fact, now counted, the 76ers have reached a perfect state, they have strong points in each position, and the depth of the bench is also quite sufficient, in addition to the mentioned few, there is also this year's lottery show "Magic Fairy" McCain. In the future, the 76ers are bound to do more to expand their roster. Carefully calculated, this should be the most abundant and promising year for the team in recent years, in addition to the neat and perfect structure of the lineup just mentioned, the coach is also the Nas, who has won the championship, not the Rivers who will drop the chain and be counterattacked in the playoffs, all in all, everything is developing on a good side, it depends on whether the Big Three can fight out of the encirclement this year.