3 Clippers on Thin Ice After Ty Lue Extension

The Los Angeles Clippers are entering a pivotal offseason. They have massive decisions to make, and they made the first one by extending the contract of Ty Lue earlier this week.

Now, they have to decide on the direction of their future. The Clippers are moving to their own arena for the first time for the 2024-25 season and they want to have a high-level, competitive team there. But they also have an expensive, aging, and injury-prone roster. Do they keep the Kawhi Leonard-Paul George-James Harden trio for another season or make changes? Let's take a look at who is on the chopping block.

Paul George

Paul George has a player option worth $48.7 million for next season. At age 34, he is almost certainly opting out and asking for a lucrative, long-term contract. The reporting so far has suggested that the Clippers are unwilling to give him a five-year max deal, meaning that PG13 might be on his way out in Los Angeles.

This is a difficult situation for the Clippers. They don't have a way to replace George if he were to leave because they don't have any cap space, even without him. It would almost guarantee that they would be a worse team next season.

However, giving a max contract to a 34-year-old with an injury history is not the most desirable option, either. That guarantees that you are going to have an albatross of a contract on your books when George is in his late 30s and not a very good basketball player.

Plus, there is already the Kawhi Leonard contract on the Clippers' books. Would they really also add Paul George's deal for a team that has made it out of the first round of the playoffs only once in the last four years?