Draymond Green Wasn’t Happy With How The Clippers Handled Paul George’s Departure

Paul George’s time with the Los Angeles Clippers game to an end this week. After all of last season came and went without the two sides agreeing to a contract extension, the team put out a statement early on in the free agency period announcing that he would not return — George ended up getting a 4-year max deal from the Philadelphia 76ers.

Reports indicate that there was a path for George to end up on the Golden State Warriors via a sign-and-trade where he would end up getting that max deal, it just never materialized, with the Clippers having reservations about taking back long-term money. And as it turns out, Draymond Green isn’t especially happy about this, which he dove into on his podcast.

“Paul George’s tenure there, as far as All-NBAs and All-Stars, is not too far off for what the best Clippers of all time,” Green said. “And to not be willing to play ball on a sign-and-trade where he wants to go — for, it is what it is, one of the best players in your organization’s history, I just don’t really wanna hear people saying, like, ‘Oh, that guy wasn’t loyal.'”

Green pointed to other instances of players being accused of not being loyal, then made it a point to say that this is a two-way street.

“Most of these organizations ain’t loyal,” Green said. “So, when everybody goes on Twitter, oh, this guy ain’t that — stop it. This is not a loyal business. Because you have players sometimes that wanna do what they think is best for them, and teams aren’t really willing to play ball. And when you’re willing to take nothing as opposed to someone, no one talk loyalty.”

It’s probably worth mentioning, of course, that no one would have benefitted more from George getting that sign-and-trade than Green. Still, with how the Warriors just saw Klay Thompson leave in a sign-and-trade of his own, it makes sense why Green (and anyone else with the team) would be upset about this.