A day before the opening of the NBA Preseason, the Los Angeles Clippers have locked up one of their star forwards. Formerly with the Pacers and the Thunder before joining the Clippers last year, George has signed an extension that should keep him in Los Angeles well into his 30s. The Clippers feel strongly that George and Kawhi Leonard can bounce back after a dreadful playoff performance in the Orlando bubble.
SportsCastr News NBA’s Guillermo Kyosuke and Simeon Russell gave their thoughts on the massive deal. Guillermo referred to George as “one of the funniest guys” in the NBA due to the storylines that constantly follow him. From the Playoff P and Pandemic P nicknames to his saga with Doc Rivers, George always seems to find the spotlight for the wrong reasons.
In the first round of last year’s playoffs versus Luka Doncic and the Mavericks, George played below his standards, scoring below 20 points in four of the six games in the series. Against Nikola Jokic and the Nuggets in the following round, George’s scoring output improved over the first six games of the series compared to the first round (23.6 PPG vs 18.5PPG). However as pointed out on the SportsCastr stream, in a pivotal Game 7, the Clippers star shot 4/16 with 10 points, en route to a 15 point defeat.
Even with the unexpected series loss, the Clippers still feel confident that they can compete in the West versus teams like the Lakers. Despite the loss of Montrezl Harrell and Landry Shamet, the Clippers have brought in talent to bolster their roster. Luke Kennard and Serge Ibaka are two of the newcomers that Ty Lue and the SportsCastr News NBA team believes will aid in their quest to return to the Finals.
LeBron and the Lakers are still the favorites to come out of the Western Conference. With the loss of Klay Thompson for the Warriors, it is likely that the Clippers and Lakers will once again battle for the top seed. Perhaps the new contract will prove the difference for George and his playoff performances.
