The LA Clippers gave Paul George a big contract extension, and NBA Twitter trolled them for it.
Paul George said we wanted to retire a Clipper, and nobody believed him.
Well, nobody except the LA Clippers, who agreed to hand him a four-year, $190 million contract extension on Thursday that will pay him up to $226 million over the next five years in Los Angeles.
Of course, given the Clippers’ embarrassing second-round playoff exit, George’s disappearing act and the general penchant for piling on LA’s other basketball franchise whenever possible, NBA Twitter immediately started trolling them for the extension.
NBA Twitter showed Paul George and the Clippers no mercy and zero chill
For many, shelling out $226 million over the next five years for a guy who continually disappears in the playoffs was just too much to swallow. The “Pandemic P” jokes were the first to arrive:
George’s previous playoff failures quickly came under fire, like when he couldn’t handle Utah Jazz wing Joe Ingles as a member of the Oklahoma City Thunder:
Others couldn’t help but dwell on the fact that in his age-35 season, George will be making an unconscionable amount of money:
That long-term issue had some comparing his extension to the worst contracts in all of sports:
What better way to illustrate the current state of the Clippers and this extension than showing the time Jayson Tatum crossed PG into oblivion?
And, of course, because the Clippers continue to be the ugly step-brother of the Los Angeles Lakers, we had to get a reaction from the defending champs in there:
Their reaction isn’t nearly as important as Kawhi Leonard, since he can become an unrestricted free agent next summer. Will keeping PG around help the Clippers keep their best player, for the long haul or will it ultimately drive him away?
Jokes are fun, but in reality, what else were the Clippers supposed to do? They had two dark clouds hanging overhead for the 2020-21 season with both Kawhi and PG heading for free agency next summer. Now they only have one, and playoff struggles aside, people forget how good Paul George actually is because jokes >>> facts.
Even so, anytime something like this happens, you know Paul George and the LA Clippers are going to take a few jabs.