Paul George, A Top-15 NBA Player, Is Worth Every Dollar The Los Angeles Clippers Gave Him

On Thursday, Paul George signed a four-year, $190-million extension that makes him part of the Los Angeles Clippers organization for the next five years. This was something of a stunning development, as George’s original contract gave him the opportunity to get out of Los Angeles at the end of this season, which is also when Kawhi Leonard was going to have the chance to decide his future. Regardless, this was a wise move for the 30-year-old, who is now going to be one of the highest-paid players in the NBA through his age-35 season. And George gets to collect those checks while playing in Los Angeles, which is where he grew up.

Last year, the Clippers infamously blew a 3-1 series lead against the Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference Semifinals, with George shooting 4 for 16 from the floor and 2 for 11 from the outside in a 10-point Game 7 performance. That lousy showing capped off an up-and-down postseason that NBA fans aren’t going to let him forget anytime soon. George, who came up with the nickname “Playoff P” himself, was the butt of every joke during the offseason, and social media was relentless when news of this extension broke.

Despite all of that, George is still a top-15 player in the NBA — at the very least — and he’s worth every dollar that the Clippers gave him. In due time, he’ll show the world that Los Angeles didn’t make a mistake in reaffirming its commitment to him.

Two years ago, George finished third in MVP voting in his final season with the Oklahoma City Thunder, averaging 28.0 points, 8.2 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 2.2 steals per game in 36.9 minutes per game. Per 40 minutes, those numbers moved to 30.4 points, 8.8 rebounds and 4.5 assists. And for all the criticism he received last year, George was just as good, averaging 29.1 points, 7.7 rebounds and 5.2 assists per 40, while posting better shooting percentages across the board.

George might never be an MVP candidate again, but the situation in Los Angeles doesn’t require that of him. Last year, George played only 29.6 minutes per game and the Clippers were still able to go 49-23 in 72 games. But what is most important is that George is still the same player he was in Oklahoma City. In fact, according to FiveThirtyEight’s overall RAPTOR player ratings, George was right on par with Luka Doncic as the eighth-best player in basketball last year. And using the more standard box plus/minus (BPM), George finished the year 11th in the league.

You can overreact to a 13-game sample size all you want — and trust me, I understand the playoffs are a lot more important than the regular season — but if George was on the open market, every team with the required cap space would have offered him a max contract. If you don’t believe me, just remember that the Charlotte Hornets are now giving Gordon Hayward $120 million over four years, and they weren’t the only team interested in his services. And considering they had to use the stretch provision on Nicolas Batum in order to close the deal, the Hornets are effectively paying Hayward $39 million a year through 2023. You can rip George all you want, but his impact on the game is far greater than that of Hayward — and plenty of other players who have received max contracts over the years.

Wings with George’s two-way ability simply don’t grow on trees, and I expect the 6-foot-8 forward to flip the narrative at some point over the course of this deal. That might not fully happen until George helps deliver a championship to Los Angeles, but it shouldn’t surprise you if that happens this season.

Last year, one of the Clippers’ biggest weaknesses was having to give too many minutes to Montrezl Harrell. Harrell is a very good bench player, but his defense can be a nightmare. And he doesn’t provide much versatility on the offensive end. Los Angeles replaced him with Serge Ibaka, whose ability to defend the rim and stretch the floor could completely unlock this team’s potential. The Clippers also replaced Doc Rivers with Tyronn Lue and swapped out Landry Shamet for Luke Kennard. Lue might not be as good of a coach as Rivers, but players have been vocal about having a comfort level with him. And he did help the Cleveland Cavaliers win an NBA championship against the Golden State Warriors, one of the best teams in the history of the sport. Meanwhile, Kennard possesses Shamet’s high-level shooting, but he has more size and the ability to create with the ball in his hands in the second unit. Overall, the Clippers quietly made themselves a lot better during the offseason, even if the Los Angeles Lakers were the ones stealing the headlines with their moves.

The point here is that basketball fans shouldn’t be writing off George because Los Angeles wasn’t able to get the job done in last year’s playoffs. The reality is that the Clippers just weren’t at their best when they needed to be. That goes for the entire team, not just PG3. Also, playing in The Bubble wasn’t for everybody, let alone a team that was having some chemistry issues. We were all quarantining for quite some time this year. Can you imagine how that would have went if you were stuck with somebody you didn’t like?

This year, look for Los Angeles to set out on a revenge tour. This is still a tenacious group at heart, and I just wouldn’t want to bet against them after the way they went out. With Ibaka stabilizing the defense, the Clippers will be better than they were at any point last season.

Ultimately, people are just going to need to realize that Los Angeles should be praised for finding a way to get George to commit for four more years, not bashed for it. Can you think of another team that received serious backlash for signing a superstar to an extension in the middle of their prime? I can’t. The NBA preseason starts tonight, and real games are only 11 days away. Pretty soon, George will be posting 30-point games with regularity, and he’ll be bottling up one of his opponent’s best players in the process. That’s just what he does. I look forward to seeing people praising him for that. I look forward to putting this craziness behind us.