Paul George Reveals Contract Negotiations With LA Clippers

Paul George Reveals Contract Negotiations With LA Clippers

on today’s show Paul George finally speaks about the negotiations with the Clippers what did he reveal that makes you question huh did the Clippers do the right thing did Paul George do the right thing should we even be mad at Paul George and he also had some words for Clipper Nation going to be talking and reacting to the first time Paul Georgia spoken since the move on today’s lock down of season Clippers you are locked on Clippers your daily Los Angeles Clippers podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team every day yes sir you are locking in with the clips thank you for making locked on Clippers the first listen of your day your team every day today I’m your host Darian vizeri born and raised in LA and finished my 19th season as a Clipper fan just about two months ago you can also follow me on Twitter and Instagram at dim dropper pod And subscribe to my own YouTube channel dime dropper for even more LA Clipper and LA Sports and NBA content and locked on Clippers is free and available wherever you get your podcasts including YouTube or I bun of comment a bunch of things I’m going to be telling you guys to comment certain things as I talk on this episode because there are a lot of things to talk about and before we get to them this episode is brought to you by FanDuel America’s number one sports book head over to fanduel.com and start making the most out of your summer visit fanduel.com lockon but anyway this episode I said I was going to be done with Paul George and topics related to him last week but this was just the talk of the end NBA landscape on Monday so I just had to do an episode about it everybody was like when’s the next lock on not everybody but some people were like when’s the next locked on episode going to be like what do you think about this dime all this stuff so we are going to talk about everything that Paul George said in that episode I sat through the whole thing and it was painful but also was really great you know and that’s one thing I actually did enjoy about Paul George even though there were lines from the podcast that we constantly hold against them and I’m going to be referring to in this episode and it did piss us off when he underperformed and made excuses for it on his show but the clarity he’s kind of given and the way he’s opened himself up as an NBA player to a fan base I think that’s pretty special like I think that’s pretty cool to be honest now the first thing I saw when I woke up in the morning on Monday was Paul George a clip you know from the episode and it wasn’t taken out of context necessarily but I watched the full clip that full episode anyway but it was talking about the stages of negotiations and remember this is Paul George’s side we don’t know if he could be lying or not if you could be exaggerating on some numbers we will not be able to prove that at least I won’t be able to prove that but everything did sound pretty reasonable so there’s no reason for me to really doubt him but let’s get into the thick of it the first thing he said was before the 20123 24 season started so before this last season started the Clippers initial offer was report according to him two years 60 million now before I get into that reacting to that number we have to remember he missed plenty of games in 2023 he didn’t play in one playoff game and in 2022 he missed 51 games so his stock was kind of low mind you he has kind of been declining but his numbers are pretty constant throughout his five years as a Clipper but when I heard that number I was like yo that is a crazy lowball for today’s NBA especially a player of Paul georg’s worth in caliber two years 60 million is crazy so I mean if that’s true Paul George has every right to just say screw you guys that’s insulting but however that is how most negotiations work is that a team will start low and then you’ll negotiate till you end up on an agreement that’s reasonable for both sides but 2 years 60 million is very low like I would have thought two years 80 million or two years 90 million and Paul George said that the number kind of increased as the season went on but that didn’t necessarily satisfy him because the fact that he signed for a four-year contract with Philly and he made it very specific that he wants the fourth year on his deal two years was definitely not going to be enough but then he claims that after he heard throughout the season that when kawhai Leonard got what he got he was like oh just give me what Kawai has and the Clippers refused this was before the All-Star break according to Paul now here’s the thing that is the deal that we I questioned La Murray about when he came on the show and I said have the Clippers offered that deal because if he’s saying no to the same amount of money as a guy that he has literally publicly claimed is better than him at basketball then that’s just greedy and crazy now granted go go get your money in Philly if you can do it but you’re leaving behind a fan base that supported you a place that you said you were going to you set out and said you owe this fan base a championship Clipper Nation we’re going to get it right these are direct quotes I am not really paraphrasing those are direct words that he said and you came with kawhai we gave up the farm for you we figured and and we showed Paul George an Act of Faith after he literally was awful in the bubble awful he had just resigned two two summers before he had two remaining years on his contract and we still G after he choked he literally played awful the worst moment of his career we signed him to a New Deal fiveyear Deal $176 million we did that after he had played poorly for us I remember thinking like he’s not a free agent he’s not even a free agent next summer why are we doing this and you know it did work out work out and it gave us a level of you know collaboration with Paul like look we trust you even though everybody’s grilling you right now we trust you but Paul George did not do anything for the Clippers if you really look at it the only thing you can say he did for the Clippers is he played through some injuries but he was the one that requested players he was the one that and we gave him everything he was the one that you know contradicted himself on in media quotes on the podcast and then more than anything just underperformed very frequently and I questioned his effort a lot and his mentality and how badly he wanted it so that is tough to overlook but let’s put it this way they the Clippers saying no to the kawhai money I said many times last season that look the next contract negotiations Paul George should not be getting as much as Kawai just off the principle that not only are you not better than him you have admitted that you’re not better than him so why would we pay you guys the same amount Devil’s Advocate side well Paul George has been more available absolute facts it’s not like Paul George has been insanely available though it hasn’t been let’s not exaggerate but yes that is very true it’s just it’s kind of weighing it though right like is Paul George’s extra however many games in the playoffs I believe it’s 11 more games he’s played then Kawai then the regular season I think Paul Georg just played around I had the number it was like 2 93 it was two either 283 or 293 games and kawh has played like 225 something along those lines so that’s a decent chunk more I remember Kawai did miss a full season essentially but Paul George only played 31 games in that season so it’s not like he made some crazy you know created a crazy Gap right and then 2020 Kawai was more healthy so that’s something but look the thing is that would be the my point is why Leonard’s basketball ability and the idea of if he’s healthy what he can do is greater than that of Paul George’s been a little bit more available but both of them still haven’t been very available in the grand scheme of things so he shouldn’t be getting paid as much as kawhai I’m sorry he just shouldn’t how you know how much less that’s Up For Debate but Paul George after the season so apparently he claims that when he didn’t get the same offer as kawhai he said nah um right he said nah I I’m going to just let’s talk about at the end of the season he said quote I’m quoting from the episode he said starting to get into my mood I could see it bleeding into the team like I was disconnected I didn’t want to blank with any with nobody I we just say I didn’t want to mess with nobody I was kind of to myself a little bit so Paul George is actively admitting that his slump and some of the stuff that happened with him in the second half of the season was because he was disinterested and kind of butt hurt essentially about the contract negotiations you admitting that like it’s just crazy to me man like look I think the Clippers potentially should have not extended kawhai at a different time than Paul I thought that was a little weird they found an agreement with kawhai quicker they wanted to lock him down and say like look we don’t want to have two tough conversations in the summer we we’ll just keep it at one kawhai is playing Super well we want to have at least onear guaranteed headlining our new Arena but that being said I personally don’t think he should have gotten extended before he showed us a fully healthy playoffs I think whether or not the Clippers you know they would have been in a tough position this summer regardless you know if Kaw had the same opportunity as Paul to opt out but if you just lay a line and say look we don’t want to talk about contract extensions with you guys because you haven’t finished the postseason for us but together in since the bubble so let’s wait till you do that and then we’ll talk extension at what point what is Kawaii and Paul Georg going to do ask for a trade in the middle of the Season like no they’re not so like at that point the Clippers had power to me so we shouldn’t have I still stand by it we shouldn’t have extended Kawai when we did I think we should have brought it to the off season but then the The Devil’s Advocate again I always have to look at the other side because I got no co-host here so I’m just kind of guessing what you guys are going to say in response but the other side is well what if kawhai and Paul George team up and say if you don’t give us what we want we will threaten to leave and then the Clippers are left with nothing but kawhai doesn’t want to leave kawhai doesn’t want to leave he walked away from a championship team he literally was the first in NBA history to do it so like kawhai like it’s going to take a lot before that happens in my opinion I think it was a gamble worth taking to wait it out to the off season but Paul says that he came back and now the offer that he said he wanted that he was okay with the kawhai offer after not performing in the playoffs he’s like nah man at least add a no trade clause nah the Clippers can’t do that because we need to be able to trade these guys potentially like we can’t let the player have that much power he’s like no if you want to trade me I got to wave my no trade clause and I got to choose where you’re trading me hell no but then if you look at it from Paul’s side it’s like I don’t want to be done like Blake Griffin if I resign into an offer that I can get more in Philly and if I give you what you want and sign for that three or 150 that Kawai took and then you guys trade me to Siberia with and I have no input on it then what have I just done why have I scratched your guys’ back for you guys to betray me like that and because of the Blake Griffin situation that is valid my personal take is that he he wasn’t going to get blaked I think it’s very different but coming up I’m going to be talking about why it was different what if we did go through with some of these offers because apparently Paul George’s final offer after we said hell no to the no trade clause which again you can see why we didn’t do do that he said okay four years 22 so now you’re getting more than kawhai you’re getting A2 million do contract and then that’s where it’s like nah so coming up going to be talking more about what if we did these things and a little bit more about the no trade clause and why I think that Blake Griffin situation would not have happened I got to tell you a little something about FanDuel America’s number one sports book I love sports I love them so much I never want them to stop but as the playoffs wind down we get fewer games and fewer sports but FanDuel lets me keep the sports going whenever I want all I have to do is open the app and dream up bets any any time I’m in the mood and this summer FanDuel is hooking up all customers with a boost or a bonus daily that’s right there’s something for everyone every day all summer long right now I’m looking at WNBA odds cuz a lot of people are you know trying to get their basketball fix the Olympics hasn’t started yet looking at WNBA odds there’s a game on Tuesday Minnesota lyns against the Sparks I’ll be in attendance and the line and I hate to Hate on my hometown team because they’re my squad but the Minnesota links the spread is Aus 5 and a half right now crazy I would definitely take the links on that like they’re definitely I think they’re going to beat the Sparks by more than that you know they’re very very very good team Sparks are you know cam Brinks out for the season the thing about the Sparks why that line is probably close is because we beat the Aces and we have a good match up with the aces but we haven’t beaten the links this season so I would I would take the links out of that and point is fanduel’s got whatever you need just visit fanduel.com and start making the most out of your summer FanDuel official sport sports betting partner of Major League Baseball all right so let’s talk about why I think the Clippers would not have gone Blake Griffin Style on Paul and Blake Griffin was resigned to a huge contract after we got rid of Chris Paul and apparently the franchise sold him the world and we’re like we’re going to have made this whole presentation and we’re like we are going to have you you know that number 32 is going to be hanging in the rafters we want you here forever you are our guy and then traded him to Detroit Blake to this day still doesn’t really mess with Steve Balmer still hasn’t really come back and shown love to the Clippers like that can you blame him not really I’m sure Blake still has a lot of love for the fans and the people that he worked with that he liked in his time here but it’s tough when you see your franchise player you’re probably I mean for me the greatest Clipper of all time I accept the Chris Paul argument but I don’t accept the argument with anyone else like I I love Bob McAdoo to death I really like him a lot like he’s a freaking unicorn he was a unicorn I I like to speak in the present tense because basketball Never Dies for me and Bob madoo alive but he’s just an absolute a baller but he didn’t play in Los Angeles and we’ve been in Los Angeles now since 1984 it’s been 50 years that we’ve I’m sorry 40 years yeah I was I I was usually good at Mental Math don’t get me wrong just off of one one mistake but yeah we’ve been here for 40 years this is going to be our 41st season in La why we didn’t do any 40-year anniversary I’m not sure but the point is our goat has to be somebody that played in LA and Bob madoo as much as I love the guy we didn’t win a playoff series as the Braves so the goat has to be from La it’s cb3 or Blake point is the fact that the goat of our franchise doesn’t really want to do anything with us is not a great look if another player was done like that in a separate iteration of the Clippers we’d be in a worse situation in the Brooklyn Nets are right now because the fact of the matter is James Harden Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving do do not speak fondly of Joe Sai and Shawn Marx and the the Net’s best opportunity to get good again is through the the draft they’re not going to attract big free agents anytime soon after the way that they dealt with those guys Steve Balmer does that again with somebody but and this wouldn’t even be the same I don’t like how people are even comparing the situation because in this hypothetical that Paul’s suggesting where he’s getting the he’s agreeing to a lower contract and then getting shipped out that’s not what happened with Blake we gave Blake everything and he got shipped out and quite frankly we’re responsible for him having generational wealth for a while like he did play up to the contract because he got injured in Detroit so we ended up giving him what ended up being one of the worst contracts in the league that Detroit ended up taking so yes it was scummy for the Clippers to trade Blake to Detroit I believe that to this day but it’s not the same what Paul’s suggesting it’s not but his concern is valid because there were some rumors last summer about potentially trading him to Portland and then New York talk started but I don’t know how serious those talks really were and how close we really were to trading Paul George before having another star like Harden to be insurance for kawhai because if we trade Paul George and kawai’s left with one star he would have been like what the heck is this so I don’t think that would have happened and by the way if Paul George and the Clippers had come up short it would have been because of Paul George and kawhai Blake Griffin I mean he wasn’t going to lead us anywhere I love him but he wasn’t going to lead us past the first round without another star and if Blake Griffin was the best player on your team I mean that’s not much better than Blake Paul George being the best player on your team right now it’s really not I love Blake Griffin too but you know the he was a the best player on a bad Pistons team a very average Pistons team that was the e seed and he had a great season in 2019 but I just don’t believe the Clippers would have done that because some people say you show me what you you are once that’s who you are but to me that was you know Steve balmer’s very fresh into being an owner at that point he has to realize what he’s doing if he does that again if he does that again you’re essentially showing superstars in the league we will stab you in the back no problem so that’s a little bit concerning now let’s say the Clippers so Paul George was never going to take that initial offer and look again I want to just make this clear I don’t blame Paul George for doing what he did but I and Clipper fans can have a problem with it because of what he has acted like in for five years what he said he was going to be here to do what the Clippers have done for him and what like yes he did take us to the Conference Finals and he was the Catalyst for that I still believe that to this day even though was our best player for the majority of the run if you really look at it he was the best player for the majority of the Run Paul George did perform in the biggest games and he represented Us in the Conference Finals as our Lone Star so to me he was the star of the 2021 playoff run he was the guy I give him all that credit and I always think him for that but Clipper fans have a right to be mad about him saying you know again coming in as arrogant as he was with everything we traded for him and he makes crazy statements after that first year but then he makes up for it and we gave him a contract before that that as I mentioned earlier and then the last couple years have just been a lot of excuses and a lot of playing down like playing below your worth and so to to to walk out like that is just crazy essentially we gave you the offer that you said you were cool with and then you came back with more like n no but but I need to no trade clause but I need this it’s like bro you got your feelings hurt because we didn’t offer you the contract at the same time as Kawai and you know what you can argue the Clippers did Bad Business there cuz they got him disgruntled and that honestly bled into season a bit cuz here’s the thing it’s not like I think he can’t ever play well in the playoffs again Paul George absolutely can have a good playoff run after this and I think he will will have at least one in Philly I just don’t think he’s going to win a championship but let’s say we did the no trade clause thing I think it would have been a disaster because then you’re just giving the player too much power so I think we did the right thing should we have done four years 212 absolutely not cuz they you’re getting under the you know over the second apron so you know that’s uh I don’t think the Clippers could have done much differently except for wait till the summer to talk about extensions with kawhai and Paul and yeah it’s a business you know but coming up Paul Georg is goodbye to Clipper fans what did he say that rubbed a lot of clipper fans the wrong way what did I make of his comments the departure of Daniel Ty and what that means and Paul George clarifying or trying to clarify his comments about playing the right way going to be talking about that coming up this next segment is brought to you by our sponsor the better help this show is sponsored by better help comparison is the thief of joy and it’s really easy to Envy other people’s lives and especially if you live in LA you are seeing the biggest stars and these people with all this money flexing it everywhere you go it might look like they have it all together on the gram or even when you see out in public but in reality they probably don’t therapy can help you focus on what you want instead of what others have so you can start living your best life whatever that may be if you’re thinking of starting therapy give better help a try it’s entirely online designed to be convenient flexible and suited to your schedule just fill out a brief questionnaire to get match with a licensed therapist and switch therapists anytime for no additional charge stop comparing and start focusing with betterhelp visit betterhelp.com lockon MBA today to get 10% off your first month that’s betterhelp hp.com locked on NBA all right so before I talk about what Paul George said in terms of his goodbye to Clipper fans I want to talk about his comments about playing the right way he clar ter IFI those comments and he said that people like myself essentially uh that criticized his you know it’s not even about winning a championship it’s about playing the right way comments he’s like people take it out of context like people that have too much time on their hands take it out of context like of course I still want to win a championship and that’s the number one goal in my career but I still want to play the right way you know the Boston Celtics won the championship because they played the right way this is what he said you know playing the right way matters what is playing the right way why are you not telling us what that means is it because like again this all seems to me and everyone’s going to say I’m a hater but this all seems to me like B like James Harden criticism like it’s because you didn’t have a problem with the way you played before but you had a problem with the way you were used with Glenn Rivers but you kind of said that you said Glenn was using me like this essentially you called him out you’re not really calling James Harden out is that a kawhai criticism because you’ve never had criticism of kawhai playing with him before this cuz like to me you didn’t have a problem with James Harden when you were hooping because he had the most efficient season shooting wise of his career with Harden and that was definitely part of it because he was getting open shots because of him so it’s just kind of a switch up like I I agree James Harden’s style of play like that may not be fun for everybody to play and yes he dribbles the ball a lot and yes he stagnates ball movement at times but like you had no problem with it until you started struggling and nothing CH James Harden didn’t really change his performance dipped but yours did even more so you can’t use that as an excuse for me and the fact that he just didn’t even address it like what is the Celtics what what does that mean the Celtics won by playing in a better way I know what it means but are you going to say it are you going to say it cuz at the same time the Celtics still have more shot creators more Talent than Dallas you know so it’s just it’s just lame in my opinion like and then by the way there were some really funny things out of that episode as well and like and when I say funny I mean funny to laugh at like first of all Dr J I give him a lot of credit to have a franchise Legend that’s still recruiting for for the for a team I know there’s a lot of franchises that have that but Dr J’s major you know for him be still doing that that’s crazy so salute to him and the Sixers Organization for that but I think it was funny that Paul George mentioned that doc said you know when we got Moses in 83 after falling short so much like he was the missing piece you’re the missing piece like as a selling point and like yeah that’s powerful when Doc’s telling you that I’m just laughing because like Moses Malone Moses Malone was an MVP of the NBA like he you guys are like that 1983 Sixers team that’s one of the most stacked team in the history of the league should get more like comparisons to that 2017 Warriors team you made it to the finals two out of the last three seasons and you replaced calwell Jones with Moses Malone you got one of the best players in the league added to a team that was going six games in the finals like that was essentially like the like the Warriors adding KD like for real like I don’t know exactly where Moses Malone standing in the league was at the time but he was easily a top 10 player so I just think I love Dr J he’s doing his job as a recruiting guy right as a recruiter but it’s just comical how that’s going to age to me there’s no way these guys are winning a chip uh but if they do salute like I’ll be I’ll accept my L I’m not going anywhere but by the way his goodbye right so he started off by talking about the moment he felt most like a Clipper and obviously that was 2021 and man I have to say definitely it was a little emotional to hear it like it was sentimental for me like yeah we we all loved you at the time in 2022 the George jerseys were all over Staple Center and if you asked Clipper fans some of them were saying Paul George is the greatest Clipper of all time and I wasn’t even pushing back I was like you know what I said whoever leads us past that second round curse is going to get that benefit and he was the guy in those two games that did that now it is a little bit iffy because he wasn’t the best player for the whole run so it’s a little interesting it’s not like he led us the whole time but those two games are massive right and he deserves a lot of credit for that the most in my eyes now I agree with like that was cool to hear and stuff but the main thing was uh and he’s he did say thank you but he also said something along the lines of like you know if you’re still a Clipper fan even though the Lakers exist like props to you like how could you still be a Clipper fan but I don’t think I personally don’t think he meant it in like you guys are losers because that’s how Lakers fans splined and some Clipper fans were like he’s dissing us to me it was more like the fact you guys have put up with all this and you’re still a Clipper fan is amazing so I salute him for that I appreciate that from Paul my last thing is Daniel Ty is going to the Pelicans it’s sad to see that I love Ty I think he should have gone playing time over plumbley in the playoffs um but it is what it is uh salute to him would have been good to have him back for insurance but hey team Mo Bamba and Kai Jones but let me know what you thought of the episode guys let me know indeed crazy Paul George’s comments let me know about all the comments everything you thought you can follow me on Twitter and Instagram at Diamond dropper pod subscribe to my own YouTube channel Diamond dropper for even more Clipper content and subscribe to the YouTube and hit the notification Bell what do you think of Paul George crazy the agel proverb continues more episodes coming this week on our new players theel prer continues go Clippers

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