The offseason has just started for the Philadelphia 76ers, but we’ve already seen a major shakeup, with Daryl Morey out as President of Basketball Operations. Whoever Bob Myers selects to fill the position will inherit some promising pieces, especially the backcourt of Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe, but also some challenges. Something that slants more towards the challenges category will be what to do with veteran forward Paul George.
The 36-year-old George is set to make $54.1 million next season with a $56.5 million player option in 2027-28, which we can all but guarantee he picks up. The least tricky way to handle the situation would be to ride out the remaining two years and then have a bulk of cap space open up during the summer of 2028, a portion of which could go towards a contract extension for Edgecombe.
Following his 25-game suspension, George played very well, as he purportedly allowed his body to heal from the knee injury that had been hampering him. During the Boston series, he averaged 16.4 points, 3.9 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.3 steals, shooting 49.3 from three and played excellent defense on Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown and company. His game on both ends complements the backcourt beautifully, which should really be the franchise’s focus moving forward. From his perspective, George is optimistic about getting to move forward without having to worry about dealing with an injury:
“This summer, the rehabbing phase is kind of behind me, so I can, you know, have a real summer of improving. Feel like it’s been stagnant the last couple years because of surgery here or surgery there, the past couple summers. So this summer should be a better summer in terms of working on my game.
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I mean, for me, I think it’s just figuring out if I can get that explosiveness back. You know, I thought it limited me a lot this year, with the ability to be explosive going towards the basket, which I’ve been my entire career, being able to not have to heavily rely on my jump shot, but the jump shot kind of being the jab to set up the drive to the rim. And I just felt like that wasn’t there this year. So I think just trying to find and see if there is that explosion. So that’ll be my challenge for the summer.
The flip side of the “Paul George looks to be better” coin is that he likely isn’t viewed as one of the absolute worst contracts in the league anymore. Could the new executive look to move off George then? Maybe it’s to get multiple players back and improve the depth of the roster. Maybe it’s to be able to bring in younger players that could match up better with the Maxey and Edgecombe long-term timelines. Regardless, it’s good that George’s improved health and play down the stretch potentially opens up different avenues for the organization.
Following the season, George had only kind words to say about his experience in Philadelphia thus far:
“I mean, it was great. It was great fans, the support, I think through the ups and downs, through everything we’ve been through, through my situation, they’ve been supportive. They supported me through it, and to have an opportunity to play in the postseason, given everything that went on, especially last year, how much of a struggle last season was to give them a postseason this year was I think the positive and the highlight of it all, but my experience with the fans has been amazing. You know, it’s definitely love here. I think for us, we got to get better, for sure. Not quite sure what those answers are right now, but in terms of, you know, my viewpoint on the city of Philadelphia and their support, man, it was awesome.
Again, I think the likeliest scenario is George remains in a Philadelphia uniform with the hope that we see more of the PG from the last couple months. However, a new executive will be making determinations of everything across the roster, and with moving George back on to the trade block, such a move could be a way the Sixers reshape the team in the coming years.
