Leaving is always hard. Only rarely do people leave somewhere without having at least a single memorable moment to fondly look back on. Just ask Klay Thompson, or in our case here, Paul George. The former Clippers guard arrived at LA behind his buddy, Kawhi Leonard, to turn the fortunes of the franchise. Although, when healthy, the star duo has been nothing short of excellence personified, the kind of success everyone hoped for did not happen.

And finally, when the 9x All-Star reached a crucial point in his 14-year career, LA found themselves in a dilemma. George’s decision at the end of it explained how well that went. A five-year relationship culminated in No. 8 making another move to a team that accepted his terms.

The Sixers’ shark had smelled blood and was waiting for the right moment to strike. And they did – a four-year, $212 million contract. Just what Paul George desired, Daryl Morey provided, getting himself and Joel Embiid a championship-caliber hydra in the forefront for the upcoming season. We don’t have to remind you that with the kind of talent and depth in the 2024-25 season, it’s going to be absolute carnage. So, it’s either eat or be eaten. And the 76ers seem poised to feast!

But what about things back home? With the Clippers also looking to create noise with their shiny new arena at Inglewood and a complete makeover, Steve Ballmer and his boys are hoping for a rebirth. Alas, without a key piece in PG-13. 20 days after their All-Star caliber guard’s departure, the former CEO of Microsoft opened up about George’s exit.

“On a personal level, I hated it. Paul is a future Hall of Famer. But we knew we needed to continue to get better. With the new CBA, tools and flexibility, we made Paul what I consider a great offer — in terms of us thinking about winning championships,” ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk tweeted.

Clearly, the $158 billion-rich Ballmer’s definition of a great offer wasn’t the same as that of Paul George. Well, the 68-year-old had his reasons for doing what he did. And PG has his. However, he didn’t keep his fans waiting to explain them.

Paul George “never wanted to leave LA,” but that train had left the station

In a recent episode of Podcast P with Paul George, the California native unpacked his unpleasant leave-taking from Los Angeles. Before getting into the nitty gritty, the ex-Fresno State product made one thing clear. “I never wanted to leave L.A. L.A. is home, this is where I wanted to finish at, and I wanted to work as hard as possible to win one in L.A. That was the goal, to be here and be committed to L.A.”

However, those injury-riddled years ensured that he never played more than 56 games a season until the last one. For the first time in his life as a Clipper, George was healthy enough to appear in 74 games while showcasing an all-around efficiency. He finished the season averaging 22.6 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 3.5 assists along with some impressive shooting – 47.1% from the floor, 41.3% from downtown, and 90.7% from the charity stripe, all three the highest numbers during his LA tenure.

So what went wrong? Or rather, where? Let’s hear it from the man himself. “As it played out though, the first initial deal was, I thought, kind of disrespectful … This was maybe October-ish. Negotiations first started, it was two, 60 [million]. As we kept going, it was like they would go up inches, inches, inches to where it was like 44-45 [million per year].”

“Then I hear wind of what they’re going to give Kawhi so I’m like, just give me what Kawhi got … They didn’t want to do that… Season ends, I finish healthy, 74 games played and had one of my most efficient seasons. So now we going into negotiations and they bring it to three years, 150… I presented the three [years], 150, no trade [clause]. Like I’m taking less, but at least I know I’m here. They didn’t want to do no trade.”

“So then I’m like, all right, well then it only makes sense for me to do four years, 212 [million]. At least pay me my money. If y’all going to trade me, y’all going to trade me, but at least now I’m not in a situation where I could have got more, had I just gone to free agency, then take this deal where y’all could ship me wherever and now I’m on this deal I didn’t want. They didn’t want to do that, so now I was like I’m open to entertaining what’s out there.”

And that, folks, was what went down. Well, anyway, that was an itch a lot of us wanted to badly scratch and Paul granted that request. However, it’s all in the past. There’s no doubt that the 2024-25 season is one that is going to be thrilling as much as it is going to be interesting. Hold tight!