Philadelphia 76ers introduce Paul George, celebrate ‘patient’ Tyrese Maxey
PHILADELPHIA – The Philadelphia 76ers now have their “Big Three”, introducing Paul George on July 23 as the star forward joins forces with guard Tyrese Maxey and centre Joel Embiid.
The Sixers reeled in George with a four-year, US$212 million (S$285.3 million) max contract earlier in July.
They were able to do so because Maxey waited his turn for an extension of his own, giving Philadelphia’s front office the ability to manoeuvre within the salary cap.
Maxey, winner of the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Most Improved Player award, has since inked a five-year, US$204 million max extension, forming a core trio that should give Philadelphia fans hope to compete with the Boston Celtics, the New York Knicks and others in the Eastern Conference.
The Sixers finished seventh in the regular season last term, and lost to the Knicks in the first round of the play-offs.
“By being patient, he allowed us to put this off-season together, to really put us in position to be one of the very few legitimate contenders in the league this year,” Philadelphia president Daryl Morey said of Maxey.
Franchise owner Josh Harris was on hand at the team’s back-to-back press conferences for Maxey and George and he heralded the new group as “among, if not the best team we’ve had since I’ve been here”.
George, 34, is coming off his ninth All-Star season in which he averaged 22.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game while shooting 41.3 per cent from three-point range. He is seen as the piece the Sixers’ offence was sorely missing on the wing.
“Joel has secretly been one of my closest All-Star Game friends,” George said of Embiid, 30, the former league Most Valuable Player currently with Team USA in Paris for the Olympics.
“It kind of felt inevitable that at some point, we would link up and be teammates.”
George also insisted he has “no ill will” towards his former team, the Los Angeles Clippers, whose initial offer to him he termed “disrespectful”.
“I thought everything just aligned perfectly,” he added of joining Philadelphia. “I’m all in. My family’s here all in, and I’m excited, and looking forward to this next opportunity.”
As for Maxey, 23, the timing worked out perfectly for him to get a payday after his fourth and most successful season. The 2020 first-round pick averaged 25.9 points, 6.2 assists and 3.7 rebounds in 70 games (all starts) in 2023-24.
“It’s a very hard thing to do, especially when you work extremely hard,” he said of being patient for his extension.
“But when they brought it to me, I understood, because you don’t have that many opportunities as a franchise to do something like that.”
Reports said earlier on July 23 that veteran guard Reggie Jackson also planned to sign with the Sixers after clearing waivers. The 34-year-old appeared in all 82 games for the Denver Nuggets last season and averaged 10.2 points and 3.8 assists. REUTERS
