Paul George made his NBA Finals debut during the recently concluded series between the Mavs and the Celtics. Well, not in a player’s capacity but in the capacity of an analyst, sharing the spotlight with Stephen A. Smith. Yes! The Clippers forward joined ESPN’s live coverage of the event where Stephen A. took a not-so-subtle dig at his teammate, Kawhi Leonard. After a week of the said incident, Stephen A. did something uncharacteristic of him; be apologetic.

During the build-up to game 4, the veteran analyst commented, “Nobody on the planet knows what it’s like to play without a star than Paul George,” to which the former Indiana player replied, “Don’t do that,” but failed to contain his laughter. This did put PG13 in a tough spot and, finally, Stephen A. Smith realized that.

During his latest episode of the “Stephen A. Smith Show”, the “First Take” host apologized to Paul George for his constant Kawhi Leonard slander. “Paul George is right, you know,” Smith said, “I put him in a bad spot. That’s Kawhi, his teammate, and it was the further thing from my mind.” He explained that there was a discussion about Leonard being unfit for the upcoming Paris Olympics and Derrick White was his potential replacement.

In the moment of light-hearted banter, SAS made those comments about the 2-time NBA champion. “Paul George is absolutely right, and I do owe him an apology for that. As a professional, that’s Kawhi, his teammate, and it was the furthest thing from my mind thinking about how Paul would look on the set with us,” explained the 56-year-old.

But how did SAS, who’s known for his loud mouth, come to an apology?

Well, as it turns out, the apology came after Paul George broke his silence about the segment on his podcast show, Podcast P with Paul George. His message to Stephen A. was simple: “Let that go.” The 34-year-old NBA star said, “I didn’t like that moment… Kawhi wants to play… We exhausted a lot out of Kawhi this season. So at some point, your body breaks you down… I didn’t appreciate that moment. I know I laughed because the situation was lighthearted, but deep down, it was like you gotta let that go, Stephen A.”

Now that Stephen A. has extended his apology, the chapter can be closed for George. With a long off-season ahead, his focus could turn toward his future with the Clippers amid the free agency rumors.

Paul George’s free agency story has a new twist

During the NBA Finals coverage on ESPN, Joel Embiid also made an appearance alongside George. When asked about the Sixers’ plans for next season, Embiid gave a meaningful look at the 34-year-old. Just to update you, at that time, there were many rumors linking Paul George with a move to Philly because there were slight changes to the 76ers’ plans.

According to Shams Charania, the interest in Paul George has significantly waned in recent days. The Athletic reporter indicated that the Sixers will be “aggressive” elsewhere in the summer with salary cap flexibility. This leaves Paul George at lunch as he recently spoke about how James Harden’s inclusion into the team weakened the Clippers.

“I mean, for sure contributing to winning basketball… People are saying, ‘chasing a championship.’ Like, it’s not that. But it’s playing the right style of basketball is what I’m chasing,” George said about his off-season goal during his podcast. George has a player option of $48.8 million, but contract talks have been at an impasse for a while now. Brian Windhorst believes that Paul George will opt in and then request a trade.

The situation is certainly gathering momentum with different speculations each day. So it’s not hard to envision that the Paul George saga will be on everyone’s back throughout the summer just like Stephen A. was on the back of Leonard for a long time.

Stay tuned for more such updates, and to follow what brand maker Leonard Armato had to say about the deadly duo, Shaq and Kobe, check out this video