With every playoff game that you’re forced to stomach at this point in the season, the Sixers “what if” lists grows.
What if they’d been the ones to trade for Pascal Siakam instead of the Indiana Pacers at the deadline? Would they still be competing? What if the Chicago Bulls hadn’t lost that one-point game on the final day of the regular season and the Sixers notched a No. 3 seed? Would they have defeated a Bucks’ squad without Giannis and a banged-up Damian Lillard? If so, might they be just picking up steam vs. a Knicks team that’s starting to run out of gas? Or a Pacers team that isn’t really all that scary? What if they didn’t have to face a Scott Foster-led officiating crew twice in six games, as well as the Goble crew that bungled the Game 2 ending?
What if….
And now all we’re left with is a much bigger what if. What if Paul George were willing to join the Sixers this offseason?
ESPN’s Senior Writer Brian Windhorst sounded confident when he declared: “The player at the top of [the 76ers’] list is Paul George…. I think that Philly is gonna come out with a max offer to Paul George and the Clippers are gonna have to decide max or not and Paul George is gonna have to decide do I wanna stay here or not.”
That means that by noon on July 6, there’s a non-zero chance we get that one wild Woj bomb.
I’d bet it would be a Sixers front office dream scenario. But why?
George is now 34 years young. He’ll turn 35 by the 2025 NBA playoffs. He’s missed more than 100 regular-season games over the last four seasons. He’s no longer (assuming he ever was) a 1A, and we’re not sure if he’ll age well enough to remain a top-tier No. 2. If Windy is right that Philly will come with a max it would mean committing four years and $212,205,000 guaranteed on the door of a dude so old, the league’s over 38 rule prevents the Clippers from even offering him a fifth year.
Our very own Bryan Toporek witnessed 27-year-old Donovan Mitchell average 31.7 points per game on 53.3% from distance in the first round, even snagging a road win at Boston where Spida was a game-high +38, and still argued against trading for him as a third star!
Bryan doesn’t even want Spida entering his prime and Dave, you want a dude who hasn’t shot over 37 percent from distance in a playoff run since the 2016-2017 postseason? A dude who literally once made a deep playoff run alongside Roy Hibbert, Lance Stephenson and Tyler Hansbrough!?
(Sighs). Guilty as charged. And here’s why.
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