Paul George Reveals Clippers' 2-Year, $60M Contract Offer, Wouldn't Match Kawhi Deal

Paul George revealed the details of his contract offer from the Los Angeles Clippers before his decision to sign with the Philadelphia 76ers in free agency.

George explained that Los Angeles offered him a two-year deal worth $60 million and wouldn't match the contract that fellow Clippers star Kawhi Leonard received during the latest episode of Podcast P, presented by Wave Sports + Entertainment.

Just to put it out there, I never wanted to leave LA. Initially, I was not trying to leave LA. LA is home, this is where I wanted to finish at, and I wanted to work as hard as possible to win one in LA. That was the goal, to be here and be committed to LA. As it played out though, the first initial deal was I thought kind of disrespectful, right and again, in all of this, no hard feelings, no love lost..it's a business like you said. So the first initial deal was like two years, 60. So I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Two years, 60? That's crazy! I'm not signing that. Now we're getting into the negotiating– No, I'm not taking that deal and so they saying this, that we want you and Kawhi here long term, we want y'all to be here, all of this stuff right. Mind you this was before the season started…maybe October-ish when negotiations first started. As we kept going, it was like they would go up inches, inches, inches to where it was like 44-45 [million/year]…but this was a couple months in between before we got it to 40 something. So I'm still like, nah, I'm not doing that. Then I hear wind of what they're going to give Kawhi so I'm like, just give me what Kawhi got. Y'all view us the same. We came here together, we want to finish this shit together. I'll take what Kawhi got, I was cool with that and we were still taking less. Kawhi took less, so if Kawhi takes less, I'm not going to, it's not about me being paid more than him. I'm going to take what he got. They didn't want to do that...Let me get to the end of this year and we'll discuss this again. We'll pick up conversations again.... Season ends, I finish healthy. 74 games played and had one of my most efficient seasons. So now we going int negotiations and they bring it to 3 years, 150 [million]. Basically what they wanted to give Kawhi. So a part of me was still like, alright cool. It sucks that it had to get to this point, that we couldn't get this figured out a lot sooner but now we're at the end of the year and it's 3 years, 150 and I'm like alright, we're in the ballpark. Now we can have a conversation. Still it still wasn't about the money because when I went back to have the negotiation at the end of the year, I presented the 3 [years], 150, no trade…I'm taking less, but at least I know I'm here. They didn't want to do no trade. They didn't want to do that so then I'm like, all right, well then it only makes sense for me to do four years, 212 [million]. At least pay me my money. If y'all going to trade me, ya'll going to trade me, but at least now I'm not in a situation where I could have got more, had I just gone a free agency, then just take this deal where y'all could ship me. They didn't want to do that, so now I was like I'm open to entertaining what's out there. I thought I played, played well enough for them to be like, 'you know what? He's a part of our future.' I thought I did that. I thought I earned that. Granted, we didn't win while I was there, but luck has a lot to do with that. We couldn't remain healthy as a unit, but I thought I did enough to earn that. They didn't want to do it. So it was just a stalemate. We came to a stale[mate] and ultimately it was like, alright, that ship has sailed…I love Steve [Ballmer], I love Lawrence [Frank], but at that point it didn't even feel right to come back with that type of energy and be comfortable playing back in LA…Steve is a good dude. I love Steve as an owner, one of the best owners that I played for, but it's a business I won't take nobody's word if they can't put it in writing, right?

Leonard signed a three-year extension worth $153 million with the organization in the middle of the 2023-24 season. George ended up receiving a four-year, $212 million contract from Philadelphia as a free agent that included a player option for the final season.

The nine-time All-Star revealed that the Clippers offered him a three-year, $150 million contract at the end of the season. When George countered by asking for a no-trade clause in the deal, Los Angeles declined. He then requested a four-year contract worth $212 million without the no-trade agreement, although the Clippers weren't interested.

George and Leonard both joined the organization during the 2019 offseason. The two were immediately hailed as one of the league's top duos, with the former coming off a top-three MVP finish and the latter coming off a championship victory with the Toronto Raptors.

While both players succeeded individually, they struggled with injuries and the Clippers made just one appearance in the Western Conference Finals during their shared tenure. The team also suffered first-round playoff defeats in each of the past two seasons.

George is still coming off an impressive 2023-24 campaign and should help the 76ers as they attempt to compete in the East. In 74 starts, he averaged 22.6 points and 5.2 rebounds per game while shooting 47.1 percent from the field and 41.3 percent from behind the arc.

As for the Clippers, they reached an agreement to bring back one of Leonard's other star teammates in the offseason. On June 30, they re-signed James Harden to a two-year contract worth $70 million.