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Steve Ballmer Reveals He 'Hated' Losing Paul George After He Signed With 76ers in Free Agency
Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer said that he hated to see star Paul George depart in free agency, but he isn't losing faith in his team
Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer was unhappy to see star Paul George leave in free agency, but he still believes the team can compete for an NBA championship.
"I love Paul," Ballmer said, according to ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk. "Let's start with Paul as a human being. Paul is a great human being and I've really enjoyed my opportunity to get to know Paul's family. So on a personal level, I hated it. I hated it."
Ballmer said the Clippers gave George a solid offer that still allowed them to build a championship team, but it wasn't what George wanted.
Losing Paul George in free agency was tough for Clippers owner Steve Ballmer
Throughout the 2023-24 season, Paul George said he was hopeful the Clippers and his agents would agree on a new contract, but talks stopped at the All-Star break. George decided to focus on the rest of the season, and rumors grew that the Philadelphia 76ers were interested in him and willing to offer a four-year max deal that the Clippers were not.
In the end, Paul George turned down multiple offers and sign-and-trade scenarios with the Clippers, opting out of his deal to become a free agent in July.
Under Steve Ballmer, the Clippers have had very high payrolls, and if not for the new CBA, they would have paid their players whatever they wanted. With the new CBA, building the roster became much harder.
The three-year, $150 million deal offered to Paul George would have put the Clippers within the second apron for the 2024-25 season, but they would have likely been out of it by the 2025-26 season.
The 76ers, with max cap space this offseason, took the chance and offered George the four-year max deal he wanted.
Clearly, the $158 billion-rich Ballmer’s idea of a great offer wasn’t the same as Paul George’s. Ballmer had his reasons for what he did, and PG had his.
With Paul George gone to the 76ers, Steve Ballmer and the Clippers could build their roster in a way they couldn't before. They gained access to the non-taxpayer mid-level exception, which they used to sign Derrick Jones Jr. They also used the bi-annual exception to sign Nicolas Batum.
The team also signed and traded for Kris Dunn while acquiring Mo Bamba and Kevin Porter Jr.
Paul George never wanted to leave LA, but that ship had sailed
In a recent episode of Podcast P with Paul George, the California native talked about his unpleasant departure from Los Angeles. Before diving into details, the ex-Fresno State player made one thing clear, “I never wanted to leave L.A. L.A. is home, this is where I wanted to finish at, and I wanted to work as hard as possible to win one in L.A. That was the goal, to be here and be committed to L.A.”
So what went wrong? Or where? The 34-year-old shared what happened before he left L.A. George said the first extension offer he got from the Clippers last October was for $60M over two years. He found that “kind of disrespectful.”
George said the Clippers later offered $40M to $45M per year, but he still felt it was too low. When George found out about the three-year, $153M extension Kawhi Leonard got, he told the Clippers he would accept the same.
READ MORE: Watch: Caitlin Clark jokes about Angel Reese at 2024 WNBA All-Star arrivals
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