Warriors pursuit of Paul George ends as star enters free agency

Pivot time.

For the last week or so, the Golden State Warriors offseason pipe dream had come into clear focus. It had become increasingly aware that the team’s primary target as they seek to add star power was two-way forward Paul George, a nine-time All-Star and one of the league’s premier wings.

Adding such a player is always a long shot, but we’ve learned to not count out the Warriors when it comes to long shots. They’ve got it done in the past.

But it won’t be happening this time. The Warriors are all but officially out of the PG13 sweepstakes, after ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that George is opting out of his $48.7 million 2024-25 salary with his hometown Los Angeles Clippers, and will enter free agency. The Warriors, given their salary commitments, have no way of signing George in free agency, short of the extremely unlikely scenario in which the six-time All-NBA selection decides to sign for a fraction of what he could make on the market.

Golden State’s hopes of landing George were dependent on him requesting a trade to the Dubs, and then opting into the final year of his deal to facilitate such a deal, at which point the Warriors could package some of their larger contracts (and likely some sweeteners) to get a deal done.

But according to The Athletic’s Anthony Slater, the Warriors had already started to feel out of the running for George’s star play, and this news only sealed their inevitable fate.

And so, after striking out in that pursuit of a home run, what changes for the Warriors? Well, for starters, this news lowers their chances of finding a difference-making player this offseason. And secondly, I’d argue that it greatly increases the chances of the team re-uniting with Klay Thompson, though he’s likely to test the free agency waters when the moratorium ends on Sunday.