After spending his last five seasons with the Clippers, perennial All-Star forward Paul George has a player option to potentially enter free agency in the 2024 offseason, and he hasn’t yet agreed to a new contract with Los Angeles. That has led many around the league to speculate that he could join a new team with space beneath the NBA’s salary cap in free agency, such as the Philadelphia 76ers.
Yet, it was recently reported the Sixers are moving on to other targets, and there’s still no announced deal between George and the Clippers. So, is there a mystery suitor on the market? Or, could George perhaps opt into the final year of his existing contract to expand his options to teams without cap space — similar to how Chris Paul leveraged a trade from the Clippers to Houston in June 2017?
Per Michael Scotto, league insider for HoopsHype, one of those mystery teams could be the Houston Rockets. He writes:
The Houston Rockets are big-game hunting, and one of the many notable names on their radar is Paul George, league sources told HoopsHype. George could potentially exercise his $48.8 million player option to facilitate a trade to his next destination, but currently, the chances of Houston landing George are unlikely, sources said.
The Rockets have several short-term contracts such as Jock Landale, Jae’Sean Tate, and Jeff Green to aggregate in a trade, which could allow Houston and Los Angeles to potentially meet the league’s salary matching rules for teams above the salary cap without putting excessive long-term money on the Clippers’ books.
In terms of desirable trade assets for the Clippers, Houston has a considerable amount of future draft capital, along with a talented young core of players and solid veterans, such as Dillon Brooks.
However, the most difficult element of the equation would be convincing the 34-year-old George — a nine-time NBA All-Star and perhaps the biggest name on the 2024 market — to choose Houston as a destination and attempt to force the Clippers into such a scenario. That could explain why any deal was characterized as “unlikely.”
George has until Saturday, June 29 to decide on his player option.
