Just over a month ago, Los Angeles Clippers star Paul George faced ire from fans and jest from critics for his less-than-impressive performance in the NBA Playoffs.
Today, George is laughing his way all the way to the bank.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, George has agreed to a five-year max contract extension with the Clippers.
All-Star forward Paul George has signed a maximum contract extension with the Los Angeles Clippers that’ll guarantee him as much as $226 million over the next five years, his agent Aaron Mintz of @CAA_Basketball tells ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) December 10, 2020
The extension is set to make Paul George one of the highest-paid players in the league at an estimated average salary of $47.5 million per year from 2022-2025.
Woj also reports that the final year of his two-and-one contract now guarantees the third year, thus guaranteeing a $35.4 million salary for 2021.
The final year of the extension has a player option – a la the same strategy as the last deal.
Now that George is under team control for the next four seasons, the Clippers will look to re-sign co-star Kawhi Leonard.
Leonard is able to opt-out of his contract after this upcoming season.
If Leonard were to leave the Clippers, the team would have to adapt quickly to retool an organization that’s devoid of draft capital.
The Clippers will face the Los Angeles Lakers in their first pre-season game on Friday (12/11) at 7:00 EST.