The Golden State Warriors reportedly made efforts to trade for a star player this week, and Stephen Curry and Draymond Green were hoping the deal would come together.
Before Paul George declined his $48.7 million player option for next season and became a free agent, the Warriors tried to put together a package to acquire the nine-time All-Star. According to Tim Kawakami of The Athletic, Curry and Green were “100 percent on board” with the idea of playing with George.
George also wanted to join Golden State, but the Clippers did not deem any of the trade offers to be worthy of pulling the trigger. L.A. now risks losing George in free agency.
There are only a handful of teams with the salary cap space needed to sign George to a max contract, and the Warriors are not among them. That is why their only realistic path to acquiring George was to have the 34-year-old exercise his player option. Golden State could have then made a trade with the Clippers and signed George to an extension, but that is no longer on the table.
Curry and Green are 36 and 34, respectively. They are on the verge of losing one of their key teammates, so it makes sense that they would be in favor of trading for George or any other player with a similar skillset.
George could still potentially return to the Clippers, though it sounds like the team has taken a hard stance in contract negotiations.
