Paul George contract details, grade: 76ers finally get their man

Losing in the first round brought a lot of intrigue revolving around what the Philadelphia 76ers were going to do this offseason. The duo of Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey is great, but proved to not be near enough. They had mounds of cap space opened up by the James Harden trade. The only question was what were they going to do with it.

At first, Paul George seemed like a pipe dream. Perfect fit, sure, but he seemed destined to re-sign in Los Angeles, right? Well, once the Los Angeles Clippers released a statement that George was departing in free agency, it felt real. Sure enough, while the NBA world was sleeping, George inked a deal to join the 76ers.

76ers land Paul George, create monster big three in the process

For any team to land Paul George it was going to be costly. Sure enough, the 76ers gave him a four-year max contract worth $212 million. That's an average of $53 million annually. Wowza.

Giving a 34-year-old with injury concerns four years of max money can absolutely backfire, but all it takes is one postseason run for this to be worth their while. That's what this comes down to. The 76ers want to win an NBA Championship, and there's nobody that they realistically could have signed this offseason who would've gotten them closer than George.

The 76ers have one of the most dominant centers in recent memory in Joel Embiid roaming the paint. They have a young star point guard on their hands in Tyrese Maxey who continues to get better. What's missing is a dynamic two-way wing, and George remains one of the best in the league in that area.

He's coming off another All-Star season in which he averaged 22.6 points per game on 47.1/41.3/90.7 splits to go along with 5.2 rebounds and 3.5 assists in 74 games. The 74 games are notable, as that's his high-water mark since the 2018-19 campaign.

This move makes the 76ers legitimate contenders in the Eastern Conference. They're nowhere near as deep as teams like the Celtics and Knicks which could come back to haunt them, but their new big three is as good as any in the NBA. As long as those three are healthy, this team has a chance.

It would've been nice for the 76ers to shave a year off of the deal, but that'd likely mean George ending up elsewhere. Landing the best player available who happens to be a seamless fit makes adding the extra year more than worth their while.

Grade: A-