NBA free agency is underway! And the deals are already flying, starting with Paul George leaving Los Angeles and heading to Philadelphia to team up with Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey.
BREAKING: Paul George has agreed on a four-year, $212M deal with the Sixers, per @wojespn
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) July 1, 2024
PG, Embiid & Maxey teaming up in Philly pic.twitter.com/53TFK8efcM
Jake Fischer joined The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz on Monday to discuss PG’s move and other free agency rumblings.
Fischer says adding PG seemed to be Daryl Morey’s plan for 2024 free agency as early as the start of 2023 free agency when James Harden opted in and requested a trade. This was Morey’s master plan/pipedream and they did it! Daryl Morey did it again, no matter how much people want to make fun of him and his calculators, Fischer says. This was their vision, this was their guy all along and they got him.
"Daryl Morey did it again... this was the vision. This was their guy all along." @JakeLFischer discusses Paul George signing with the Sixers and how Daryl Morey accomplished his "master pipe dream" during this free agency period.
— Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (@LeBatardShow) July 1, 2024
WATCH: https://t.co/ei54X8cJeR pic.twitter.com/UUpRKfbdic
So was this a bit of vengeance? Fischer points out that one aspect of all this is the fact that in trading Harden to the Clippers, the 76ers not only got L.A.’s draft picks but then they put themselves into position to make the Clippers monumentally worse by bringing PG to Philly.
Mike points out there seemed to be a lot of gamesmanship in the media, from the Clippers’ strange statement to even the reports that the 76ers had been cooling on bringing in PG. So what does Jake make of it all? Jake says the Clippers statement and Lawrence Frank’s previous statements about the CBA may seem like an excuse, but it is a reason. He says it’s not just that this new second apron brings tax penalties, the issues are how the rules then hamstring a team and prevents them from getting better. Jake points out that if you pay into the second apron in three out of five years, which is what would have happened to the Clippers, you would have a pick frozen in the future at the end of the first round of the Draft, in addition to other penalties. So, Jake says the Clippers were afraid of paying for this team to compete in the West for three years to then be stuck for the next four years in a brand new stadium with no means to get better. He says they’re saving themselves now from a potential doomsday future, but the cost was definitely Paul George.
Also, although he appeared hours before the news broke that Klay Thompson would be heading to Dallas, Jake said if his decision came down to winning Klay would be joining Luka and Kyrie.
"The word has definitely been that he [Klay Thompson] is deciding between Dallas and the Lakers... so if winning ultimately rules the day it's going to be Dallas."@JakeLFischer breaks downs NBA free agency and where Klay Thompson may end up after leaving the Warriors.
— Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz (@LeBatardShow) July 1, 2024
WATCH:… pic.twitter.com/e2zeY4Ampb
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