The recent trades and acquisitions in the NBA off-season are being made in a much different light than before! The main reason for this has been the new Luxury Tax and Second Apron limits, set under the new CBA guidelines. Franchises and their owners are moving cautiously to not go over the set limit and incur severe fines. For LA Clippers owner and billionaire Steve Ballmer, the restrictions possibly prevented him from including a key player on his roster.

Going into the off-season, the Clippers had an important card to play: 34-year-old Paul George. According to a report by Yahoo Sports reporter Jake Fischer, published earlier today, the Denver Nuggets were more than willing to send Michael Porter Jr. to the Clippers if they could get their hands on ‘PG-13.’ Looking at how things went for them, after losing Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in free agency and the 2024 first-round pick DaRon Holmes II to an Achilles ailment, the franchise was in dire need of a key player. Unfortunately, while the Clippers would have liked nothing better than to have the small forward, his existing $179 million contract complicated things.

“While Porter helped the Nuggets clinch the 2023 championship, Denver already was flirting with the concept of including Porter in a trade to land Paul George this summer, sources said, although his cap number likely would have been too daunting for the CBA-conscious Clippers to have truly considered if George had opted in to be traded” Jake Fischer wrote.

Having signed a 5 year, $179 million extension with the Denver Nuggets in 2022, Michael Porter Jr. still has three years remaining on his contract. According to Spotrac, he is expected to be paid around $35.8 million for the 2024-25 season.

With Kawhi Leonard recently reducing the pay for his three-year extension from $153 million to $149.5 million, the Clippers managed to stay $6.6 million below the Luxury Tax limit, and $13.9 million under the First Apron. Taking in Michael Porter Jr. however, would have complicated things and caused them to incur heavy fines.

The repercussions of going over the set limits under the CBA guidelines are already being noticed. The Phoenix Suns, who have taken their salary cap all the way up to $223 million, will now end up paying over $198 million in tax, bringing their total salary expenditure to $400 million! This is a situation that any franchise owner, including Steve Ballmer, would have been looking to avoid. As a result, they couldn’t use Paul George to bring in Michael Porter Jr. and had to trade him off to the Philadelphia 76ers, eventually.

Acquiring Paul George would have allowed the Denver Nuggets to possess a better option on the defensive end. Furthermore, the player’s shooting skills would also allow the Nuggets to shoot better from beyond the arc. Unfortunately, the same was too good to be true.

The CBA Guidelines forced the Clippers to let Paul Geoge enter Free Agency

With the Michael Porter Jr deal faltering, there weren’t many options left for the Clippers regarding Paul George. No matter what deal they would have undertaken, the franchise would have ended up accumulating a salary cap that took them beyond the Luxury Tax limit and the Aprons. To keep the dynamic duo of George and Kawhi Leonard together, the Clippers even made attempts to provide the former with a worthwhile extension. Unfortunately, the fear of crossing the limits did not allow them to reach a mutually acceptable number.

The franchise initially gave out a 3-year $152 million extension after Paul George declined his player option. However, he didn’t budge since he reportedly expected a 4-year deal that would go up to $212 million with a no-trade clause.

At the beginning of the month, before the contracts of the Clippers roster were placed under the ‘Guaranteed’ category, the expenditure on salaries was expected to be around $225.88 million. Out of this, 82.8 million was set to be solely spent on only Leonard and James Harden. George’s ask would have placed the Clippers in a deep hole, out of which they couldn’t have escaped if the player had also received a no-trade clause.

In a statement to Adrian Wojnarowski, the president of basketball operations for the Clippers, Lawrence Frank, admitted “This is a business and the reality of the new CBA impacts teams like us.” And thus, a five-year partnership came to an end.

Before leaving, be sure to check out some insights that Shaquille O’Neal’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato, shared about the Lakers legend’s infamous feud with the late Kobe Bryant.