Sixers

This Paul George Report Doesn’t Pass the Smell Test (UPDATED)

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Jun 21st, 2024 · 9:54 AM EDT

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I’ve been thinking a lot about this tweet:

The Philadelphia 76ers’ interest in pursuing Paul George has significantly waned in recent days, and the franchise is expected to be aggressive elsewhere with its salary cap flexibility and draft capital leading into next week’s NBA Draft, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 20, 2024

Dunno. Doesn’t pass the smell test. First the Sixers were heavily linked to PG, then Joel Embiid goes on NBA Countdown with him, now their interest has “significantly waned” one week after that?

Sounds like someone is trying to leverage someone else. Just not sure who’s the leverager and the leveragee (I just made up those words the same way Daryl Morey made up “optionality”). Maybe James Harden got to PG and told him to stay away. That’s possible, but PG to Philly is/was an entirely plausible scenario considering the fit and the fact that if he opts out to look for a longer-term deal, he’s a free agent who wouldn’t require the loss of assets to acquire. If we’re talking about the five basic scenarios – PG, Jimmy Butler, LeBron, role players, or trading Joel Embiid, we all would have said PG is the most likely path there. Why? Because they’d have to trade for an old Butler, LeBron just got his podcast co-host hired as the head coach, and it seems unlikely that they just build around Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. Maybe there’s a 6th or 7th option that Daryl is cooking up, which is actually very intriguing now. Perhaps there’s a different plan that no one has really considered.

EDIT –  Austin tweeted this out, Windy adds another element:

Windy on Paul George on Get Up a few minutes ago: pic.twitter.com/C2zd3i9PvB

— Austin Krell (@NBAKrell) June 21, 2024

I don’t think this means the Sixers are out of the picture. Do you? They can offer him more money and a longer term deal. The question is whether or not that’s smart.