76ers Have Talked About Paul George Trade with Surprise West NBA Team: Report

76ers Have Talked About Paul George Trade with Surprise West NBA Team: Report originally appeared on Athlon Sports.

The Philadelphia 76ers’ Paul George experiment may be a pricey one-and-done situation.

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Following five title-less years with his hometown L.A. Clippers (although technically George is from Palmdale, outside of Los Angeles), the nine-time All-Star forward was inked to a lucrative four-year, $211.6 million maximum contract with Philadelphia in what was considered the free agent signing coup of the 2024 offseason.

Instead, the 76ers went 24-58 and missed the playoffs, amidst major injuries to George, All-Star center Joel Embiid, and All-Star point guard Tyrese Maxey. Even when healthy, the team struggled to gel together meaningfully.

George showed significant signs of athletic decline, and looked like a worse version of the player they just let walk in free agency, Tobias Harris, whom George was essentially replacing.

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Across 41 healthy games this past season, the 6-foot-8 Fresno State product averaged 16.2 points on .430/.358/.814 shooting splits, 5.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists — that represented his worst scoring output since his sophomore season in 2011-12, and his second-worst rebounding rate ever.

Now, Philadelphia may be looking for an exit strategy.

In a recent episode of the “Locked On Jazz” podcast, The Salt Lake Tribune’s Andy Larsen reported that the 76ers have talked about a potential trade of George to the Utah Jazz. As Evan Sidery of Forbes notes, Philadelphia and Utah would flip their respective Nos. 3 and 5 draft picks in the exchange.

“I do think it’s true that the Philadelphia 76ers are interested in trading down to No. 5 potentially if they can get off the Paul George deal in that contract,” Larsen said. “That may not make sense given how long that contract is and how I think Paul George was [last year], I don’t think the Jazz are going to take that offer, but do think that’s an offer that’s been presented.”

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In this scenario the 76ers would ditch the 35-year-old George’s onerous contract and remain in the draft lottery, while the Jazz would be able to move up to snag a supposedly more highly-regarded prospect in this month’s 2025 NBA Draft.

Related: 76ers Attempting to Trade Away No 3 Draft Pick: Report

This story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on Jun 18, 2025, where it first appeared.