LA Clippers: 3 Reasons Paul George Shouldn’t Get Traded

LA Clippers’ Reason to Not Trade Paul George: If He Walks, They Have Flexibility

There’s been a lot of consternation regarding the possibility of Paul George leaving the LA Clippers after the upcoming season. After all, if things go south, he can opt out of his player option and leave.

Let me be clear, that wouldn’t be a good thing. Losing a star is always bad.

But I have a lot of optimism in Kawhi staying, given that he chose to come to the Clips. So if PG leaves, we’re in the situation of looking to keep building around Kawhi. And with George off the books (if he walks), the front office can easily put themselves in a position to do that.

With some careful cap management, and depending on whether any multi-year deals are signed in this offseason, the Clippers could be looking at anywhere between 20 and 40 million in cap room in 2020-21 if PG leaves.

This isn’t a guarantee, of course. A big deal for Marcus Morris and/or Montrezl Harrell this offseason would put the clamps on that. As would a trade for a playmaker on a big contract. But it’s hard for me to see this front office, as forward thinking as it was in building the team, not keeping their options open in 20/21.

If they trade George, especially for a platter of decent role players to put around Kawhi, that probably immediately squashes our flexibility next offseason, unless they somehow get a bunch of role players who are all expiring.

I should clarify again here, that I would the put the odds heavily on Kawhi and PG both wanting to return. But if the front office wants to keep an eye on the free agent market that offseason and keep as much flexibility as they can to build around Kawhi Leonard, keeping PG is the move that makes sense.

What do you think? Should Paul George get traded, or do you agree that the right thing to do is keep him? Let us know on Twitter or Facebook, and follow along here for all things LA Clippers!