Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer breaks down how the 76ers' reported deal with Paul George impacts the team.
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Philadelphia president of basketball operations Daryl Morey pinpointed his team’s most pressing need after the 76ers’ first-round exit in the 2024 playoffs, before quickly filling it by bringing aboard star forward Paul George on a four-year max contract.
The move gives the Sixers, who are already in win-now mode, a shot at advancing past the conference semifinals for the first time since 2001, while threatening Boston’s prospects for repeating as champions. Philadelphia finds itself now alongside the Celtics and New York Knicks as legitimate contenders in the East.
On paper, at least.
“I owe it to the fans, to ownership, to everybody to get this team in a place where we’re competing for championships,” Morey said in May. “We’re very well situated to use all the tools – trade, free agency, draft – to upgrade the team, and we’re going to put every single effort into that.”
Morey demonstrated as much with the acquisition of George, 34, to play alongside 2022-23 MVP Joel Embiid, and rising star Tyrese Maxey, who agreed to a five-year extension. Maxey is fresh off a breakout campaign averaging career highs in scoring (25.9 points per game), assists (6.2) and rebounds (3.7) while winning Most Improved Player and earning his first All-Star nod.
George averaged 22.6 points last season with the Clippers. Toss in the scoring averages of Embiid (34.7) and Maxey, and the Sixers can count on somewhere around 83.2 points per game from a star trio leading a team that ranked 15th in points per game last season (114.6).
“The biggest need is not at [Embiid and Maxey’s] positions,” said Morey. [It’s] someone at the wing, who can play and deliver at a high level in the playoffs.”
George fits that bill, provided his health holds up. But nothing is guaranteed.
George and the Clippers fell in the first round last postseason, and the All-Star forward sat out of the 2023 playoffs due to a right knee injury. An elbow ailment limited George to 31 games in the 2021-22 season.
Coming off the most regular-season contests (74) he’s played since 2018-19, George (if healthy) still boosts Philadelphia’s hope for contention by providing optionality. When Embiid cooks in the post and Maxey attacks the rack downhill, both can still kick out on the perimeter to George, who scores comfortably on all three levels.
When Embiid misses games (he will, considering he’s played in 65 contests or more just twice), George can step into the role of primary scorer with ease like Maxey did for stretches last season when the big man sat.
With Embiid and Maxey set to carry most of the team’s scoring burden next season, George can also pour more of his energy into defending.
After all, the Sixers lost the ability to consistently match opposing athletic wings when they traded Ben Simmons in 2022 to the Brooklyn Nets. George alleviates that issue, while providing a deadly catch-and-shoot threat (45.5%) from 3-point range to take pressure off Maxey, 23, and Embiid.
“We want to open all the doors to make ourselves a contender,” Morey said. “But we can’t close all the future doors unless we think the moves we are doing can be the best team in the East, at least.”
This latest move accomplishes that prospect.
But Morey still needs to fill out the team around the edges, considering depth plays as important a role in a title run as the performances from the superstars. The club tipped off that endeavor over the weekend by coming to agreement on deals for Kelly Oubre Jr., Eric Gordon and Andre Drummond.
Oubre turned out to be the surprise signing of last summer, averaging 15.4 points last season and 5 rebounds over 68 games.
As for George, the Clippers quickly came to an agreement with teammate and former Sixer James Harden on a two-year deal, as LA became increasingly likely the nine-time All-Star would sign elsewhere.
“Paul is a tremendous talent and elite two-way player,” the LA Clippers said in a statement announcing George’s pending departure. “We traded a lot to pair Paul and Kawhi [Leonard], and in exchange, we had five seasons of contention.”
Morey and the Sixers think they can squeeze out a few more.
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Michael C. Wright is a senior writer for NBA.com. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on X.
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