Paul George can expect to attract plenty of interest if he declines his player option and becomes a free agent this summer.
According to NBA insider Marc Stein, the Philadelphia 76ers are still keeping close tabs on George. Philadelphia was reported to have shown interest earlier in the season as well.
“League sources say that Philadelphia continues to loom as an eager George suitor should he make it onto the open market and give the 76ers their formal opportunity to try to lure him across the country,” Stein wrote.
“The Sixers are said to maintain interest in George despite the widely held presumption that he and [Kawhi] Leonard want to keep playing together in their native Southern California.”
While George may wish to stay in LA, the Clippers’ financial situation could make that tricky, as The Athletic’s John Hollinger recently explained.
“The Clippers are deep in the tax and don’t control their own first-round pick through 2030,” Hollinger wrote.
“Their best players are 32, 33 and 34, and they may have no choice but to pay two of them this summer and keep trying to push this rock up the hill. (Keep an eye on Paul George, by the way. Presumably, if there was a max extension sitting around for him, he would have signed it by now; I think it’s fair to say a couple of cap-room teams in the East are, um, ‘monitoring’ this.)”
Multiple reports earlier in the season also connected George to the team that drafted him all the way back in 2010, the Indiana Pacers.
There’s no way to know how this will all play out, but PG’s situation is shaping up as a very interesting one to watch heading into the offseason.
READ MORE: Paul George Discusses Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Trade That Sent Him to Clippers