Paul George claims that if the Warriors had traded Klay Thompson, he “probably would have stayed.”
Written by Jeff Smith Most recent update: July 9, 24
One club was still at the center of talk about a possible trade for the nine-time All-Star: the Golden State Warriors. As the closing days of the Paul George tenure in Los Angeles approached and 2024 NBA free agency got underway.
As far as we currently know, the Warriors were unable to come to an agreement with the Los Angeles Clippers over a possible sign-and-trade in order to obtain George. But how near was it to really happening? George said that the agreement “was close to being done. More than that, it appears the 34-year-old believed that Klay Thompson would have most likely stayed in Golden State in the event of a deal.
That was a genuine project that was almost completed. According to what I was informed about the situation, the transaction was almost finalized. They expressed how much they wanted me there and how I could have blended in well with Draymond [Green] and Steph [Curry]. It’s likely that Klay Thompson would have stayed. [Andrew] Wiggins, [Jonathan] Kuminga, and [Brandin] Podziemski “spoke George.
They had no idea what parcel or how it would be there to swap for me.[Kevon] It was extremely fascinating because Looney was going to be there, and it was still a win-win situation since there was still a chance to be on the West Coast and near to home. Joel is a unicorn, in my opinion, and Steph is a unicorn.Thus, it was somewhat advantageous to be in the thick of things, but in the end, the transaction fell through. Although it was close, I believe the Clippers refused to accept a certain trade deal that the Warriors were prepared to make. It was awesome, dude. If that did occur, I was anticipating it.”
It’s interesting to note that there was speculation that, had a deal gone through, Thompson might have stayed with the Warriors. If a deal for George worked out, it appears Golden State may have had a strategy to make everything work.
George joined the Philadelphia 76ers on a max contract, joining Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid, and himself as one of the top trios in the game. Thompson made the decision to accept a sign-and-trade contract with the Dallas Mavericks, and the Warriors almost missed out on the chance to assemble a formidable core.
Although George was undoubtedly drawn to the prospect of staying in the West, it’s difficult to argue that he could be in a worse scenario given the 76ers’ immediate ascent to the top of the Eastern Conference, where they will likely challenge the Boston Celtics.
