The 2024 NBA Draft has come and gone, with a number of big trades already taking place including the latest, which saw Dejounte Murray dealt to the Pelicans.
It is just the start of what should be an intriguing summer in the NBA, with the free agency window opening on Monday (Australia time) and some big names yet to make a call on their future.
Here are three of the biggest stories to follow ahead of Monday.
CLIPPERS, PAUL GEORGE STALEMATE CONTINUES
The Paul George puzzle has yet to be solved.
The Clippers, according to ESPN, “very much” want to keep the nine-time All-Star, but uncertainty looms over the organisation.
Sunday’s deadline is steadily approaching for George to decide on his $48.8 million player option.
He is seeking a four-year contract extension at his $221 million max, per ESPN, but the Clippers haven’t budged on an agreement for months.
Despite the ambiguity, the Clippers are clinging to the hope that George, 34, will want to remain near his hometown, Palmdale, where his family resides.
Pacers nab exciting Aussie with pick 35 | 01:48
After the Clippers drafted Cam Christie with the 46th pick in the second round of the 2024 NBA Draft, Lawrence Frank — the Clippers president of basketball operations — took the opportunity to give George a shoutout.
“He’s been awesome. He’s been an All-Star. He’s one of the best two-way players in the league,” Frank told reporters.
“He’s a terrific person. He’s got great family, so we hope he’s here but also respect the fact that if he chooses to opt out, that’s his choice. He’s earned it and we’ll see how things play out.”
If there’s no extension prior to the deadline, George has the option to become a free agent or opt into his deal.
Even if he does decide to opt into the final year of his deal, he could attempt to negotiate a trade from the Clippers to another team.
In January, the Clippers retained one of their go-to guys, Kawhi Leonard, with a three-year $150-million extension.
Now they are weighing how to keep George around and James Harden — also a free agent — to complete their “Big 3.”
The organisation has engaged in talks with Harden alongside his agents, Mike Silverman and Troy Payne.
“We think James has been terrific for us,” Frank said.
“We hope he’s had a great experience while he has been here and we hope he decides to continue to be here. … We very much want James to remain a Clipper and hope he decides to do the same.”
— Sean Savage
This article was first published on the New York Post and reproduced with permission
Lakers select… Bronny! Joins dad in LA | 01:48
FOUR TEAMS EYE WARRIORS SHARPSHOOTER
A group of NBA teams are lining up for Klay Thompson as his free agency decision comes to a head.
League sources told The Athletic that the 76ers and Nuggets would have interest if the five-time All-Star enters the open market.
The 76ers, armed with roughly $65 million in cap space, have more than enough cash to give Thompson, 34, the money he’s seeking from Golden State.
The Nuggets have “pegged Thompson as a possible replacement” for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who declined a player option to enter free agency this week, per the outlet.
NBA insider Marc Stein reported Saturday that the Mavericks are “exploring the feasibility” of adding Thompson after clearing cap space by dealing Tim Hardaway Jr. to the Pistons.
The Magic have also recently been reported as a possible destination for Thompson.
The latest Thompson rumours come as his relationship with the team appears to be souring.
Stein also wrote Saturday that signs “have frankly never pointed more strongly to” Thompson, who has spent all 13 of his NBA seasons with Golden State, winning four championships alongside Steph Curry and Draymond Green, leaving the Bay Area.
Earlier this month, Thompson unfollowed the Warriors on Instagram, deleted mention of the team from his bio on the platform and purged the majority of his Golden State-related posts dating back more than two years, signalling something may be amiss in the relationship.
On June 17, The Athletic reported that it was all but certain Thompson would test the open market for the first time in his 11 seasons.
“Klay Thompson, I’m told, is open to all external options in free agency coming up,” the outlet’s NBA insider Shams Charania said on FanDuel TV. “He intends to test free agency. We know the Warriors want him back, they offered him an extension before the start of the season. They’re going to see if there can be a deal that gets done. He’s going to be there in the marketplace, seeking offers elsewhere.”
— Dylan Svoboda
This article was first published on the New York Post and reproduced with permission
Gaze: Bulls a ‘better fit’ for Giddey | 00:59
GOLDEN STATE PUSH BACK CHRIS PAUL DEADLINE
The Warriors have two extra days to figure out what to do with Chris Paul.
Golden State and the 39-year-old guard agreed to push back the deadline for when his $30 million salary for next season — the final year of a four-year, $120 million deal inked with the Suns in August 2021 — becomes guaranteed from Saturday to Monday, according to multiple reports.
The purpose of that change, according to ESPN, revolved around helping find a potential trade partner that fits Paul, though the outlet added that there’s still a possibility the Warriors will waive him to save salary cap space.
Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. had hinted at the possibility of extending the deadline during a press conference Friday, though he didn’t consider the team’s decision on Paul — the guard who spent last season with Golden State after getting traded from the Suns to the Wizards and then the Wizards to the Warriors across four days — to reflect the “pivot point” of their offseason.
“We still have some time on that, which will take,” Dunleavy told reporters Friday, “and we’ll come to a conclusion. But in terms of pivot point, no, it doesn’t. We’ll figure it out and go from there, but I don’t think it’s gonna make a huge difference in terms of like how things shake out overall.”
In his first year with the Warriors, Paul averaged 9.2 points and 6.8 assists per game, starting the fewest games — just 18 — of his career and settling into a complementary role alongside a struggling group that still possessed a star-filled lineup.
The Warriors, who finished No. 10 in the Western Conference, were eliminated by the Kings during their opening game of the play-in tournament, and that started an offseason filled with speculation about the futures of Klay Thompson, Andrew Wiggins and Paul.
Wiggins, according to The Ringer, will likely be “aggressively dangled,” in addition to the reality that Paul could get traded.
Those are the decisions that will shape the Warriors’ offseason, and last year, right around this time, they were the final stop for Paul after a whirlwind one-week stretch.
He was dealt by the Suns — where he had played since 2020-21 — to the Wizards in a three-team trade on June 23, and days later, Washington sent him to the Warriors in the deal that brought Jordan Poole to the Warriors.
But depending on what Dunleavy decides by Monday, it might be a one-season stint in Golden State.
— Andrew Cane
This article was first published on the New York Post and reproduced with permission
