5 Ideal Non-Clippers Destinations for All-Star Paul George

Nine-time All-Star forward Paul George and the rest of his L.A. Clippers have been eliminated from the NBA postseason a bit sooner than expected, presumably for the umpteenth time (really, it's for the fourth time in the past five seasons — the one exception: George led L.A. to the Western Conference Finals in 2021, despite All-Star colleague Kawhi Leonard tearing his ACL midway through the second round).

This year, the Clippers got the boot from the Dallas Mavericks in a six-game first-round series, with Leonard injured for much of the time once again (he missed all but two games due to, yes, another knee issue).

Per Tomer Azarly of ClutchPoints, George offered up a reflective answer about why the Clippers didn't make the cut for the second round, praising the continuity of rival clubs.

"Continuity is everything," George said. "You look at the teams that are still standing. They've been together for quite a few years, so continuity has always stood and given teams the best chance when the guys are used to one another, there's chemistry there."

"Every team that's still standing right now has been together for quite some time, so that is one thing we gotta go through: a season of learning each other, learning how to play, learning how to adjust off one another," George noted.

Star point guard James Harden, added via a Harden-mandated trade with the Philadelphia 76ers months ahead of the trade deadline, was the major new addition this season, though contributing role players like Nicolas Batum and Robert Covington were casualties of that deal (Marcus Morris was, too, but he was out of head coach Tyronn Lue's rotations by then). The rest of the team's core had been together for at least a few seasons.

"We had that [continuity] this year and so the only thing to look forward to is the next year to come. How well we can all put that back together," George added.

Continuity could be a problem for the Clippers, however. George could join Harden in unrestricted free agency this summer. The 6-foot-10 L.A. forward has a $48.8 million player option for 2024-25 and has yet to agree to a contract extension with the Clippers. Leonard, meanwhile, inked a three-year, $149.7 million extension midway through the now-concluded (for the Clippers) season.

George could pull a Harden by opting into his contract and requesting a trade (or, alternately, using the opt-in to punt on his extension decision for another year and try to make it work with L.A. short-term), he could opt out right now to become a free agent this summer, or he could ultimately figure out that contract extension sooner rather than later. Here are five teams he could join, either via trade or free agency (we'll clarify which as we go).

5. Cleveland Cavaliers

After starting out their ongoing series against the Orlando Magic 2-0, the Cavs have gone 1-3, and find themselves on the brink of elimination in today's Game 7. Cleveland has a big positional overlap problem, as the club is trying to awkwardly pair a tandem of smaller guards, Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell, in its backcourt, along with two players who would probably each prefer to be the team's starting center in Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen.

Flipping one or even two of these four players (Mobley is still on a rookie-scale contract) plus some solid depth in exchange for George (George's money cannot be aggregated with another Clippers contract, because L.A. is a second-apron luxury tax team) might help maximize Cleveland's chances, while simultaneously letting Los Angeles reset with some younger talent.

4. Philadelphia 76ers

This possibility has been bandied about everywhere for a while. Philadelphia could quickly carve out plenty of cap space with which to outright sign free agents this summer, should it opt not to retain a lot of its incumbents (starters De'Anthony Melton, Tyrese Maxey, Kelly Oubre Jr., and Tobias Harris are all free agents, though All-Star Maxey is a restricted free agent who will definitely be retained).

Philadelphia could carve out over $60 million in cap space should it so choose. George could opt out of his contract with L.A. and sign with these perpetual also-rans, where he'd be an optimal combo forward to flank All-Stars Joel Embiid and Maxey.

3. New York Knicks

The Knicks don't have cap room, so this would have to be a trade. New York possesses several draft picks, beyond just its own, at its disposal to use in a theoretical deal. In the case of George, the club could utilize some of that future equity in combination with All-Star Julius Randle's contract, plus perhaps the unnecessarily hefty deal of injury-prone-but-still-valuable reserve center Mitchell Robinson, in exchange for George.

A lot of the Knicks' offense in the postseason has bogged down to Jalen Brunson grinding out tough buckets, either himself or through his passing, and adding another elite scorer and playmaker in George could help give New York's All-Star point guard a bit of a release valve.

2. Orlando Magic

Here's a spot where George's veteran experience could be a real asset. At present, Orlando is just $19 million under the cap, which is not nearly enough for George. That said, the Magic's two best players, All-Star power forward Paolo Banchero and small forward Franz Wagner, are still on their rookie-scale contracts, while everyone not named Jonathan Isaac is on a relatively team-friendly (and thus, trade-friendly) deal. Ultimately, that dynamic duo is what matters most, and adding a three-level scorer and stellar defender at PG-13's level could really help the club augment its game on both sides of the ball.

This is a very young, inexperienced team, one that could benefit from a battle-tested pro like George. Conversely, George can once again not worry about being the team's best player, and can thrive as essentially an overqualified 1A or 1B, hierarchically behind Banchero and parallel to Wagner. Orlando's primary weakness this year has been its ability to stretch the floor. Adding George — who connected on an elite 41.3 percent of his high-volume 7.9 triple attempts a game in 2023-24 — would go a long way toward curing what ails the Magic.

1. Miami Heat

The biggest drawback of a George-to-Miami situation, from a Heat fan's perspective, is probably his ethos. He has had some weirdly zen responses to accruing losses over the years and recently was fairly checked out in three of the Clippers' last four contests against Dallas. In those three contests, all losses, he averaged 13.3 points on 31% shooting from the field. These un-clutch recent moments, his advancing age (he's 34), and his attitude may just not be "Heat Culture" enough for Erik Spoelstra and co.

But combining George, still an excellent two-way player when healthy, with a core of Jimmy Butler (another aging, oft-hurt All-Star forward who himself is seeking a contract extension) and Bam Adebayo could help Miami capitalize on what's looking like a fairly open Eastern Conference, outside of the Boston Celtics. This would need to happen via trade, but Miami will have multiple first-round picks it could attach to some decent mid-tier contracts on useful veteran role players in a deal.