Maximum salary for retirement? In the past, the attack and defense were integrated, but now it is profitable and not doing its job and starts to fish!

The scripts of the NBA have become more and more exciting in the past two years. The older generation of stars have gradually faded, and the new generation has taken over, but the traffic and attention are still tightly controlled by those "traditional superstars". Although familiar faces like James, Curry, Durant are not as good as before, fans still have true love. After all, they are fans who have grown up, and their feelings are there.

But we have to face the reality: this group of people is really starting to "go downhill". James's hair and beards are all gray at the age of 40. He plays quite hard but cannot help the Lakers. Curry's scoring efficiency at the basket this year hits an eight-year low (55.3%, nearly 10 percentage points less than his peak period). Durant is even worse. The Suns explode directly on the spot and fail to make the playoffs.

Look at Harden, Westbrook, and Paul. These names are so familiar that they are no longer familiar, but now they have all become role players. Harden averaged 16.6 points per game, the second lowest in his career, Paul fell directly below double digits. Westbrook changed to six teams in 6 years, and his net worth went from maximum salary to basic salary, making him the "strongest wanderer".

But today we are not talking about them, but another name that has been "overremembered" by many people: Paul George.

Paul George went fishing as soon as the season ended, which was speechless and funny.

A "superstar" who just got a four-year maximum salary contract of 212 million yuan and averaged 16.2 points per game. After the team lost 24 wins and 58 losses and was criticized for lack of enthusiasm throughout the season, he turned a blind eye to fishing? This action is in line with his performance in the season and can be said to be a model of "failed image management".

You said that after losing, they could go into seclusion and practice hard and adjust their state, but PG directly switched to the "casual mode", which was completely out of touch with their professional attitude. It even makes people wonder: Does he really love basketball, or do he love podcasting and fishing more?

After all, George's problem is not that he can't play ball, but that he plays too "comfortably". As soon as I got the big contract, Dou Zhi also packed and mailed it out. Fans are disappointed not because you are old, but because you don’t want to win.

If this is George's "professional old age plan", then we can only say: he has never really become a core player who can lead the team, but it just happens to have good talent and traffic. How strong is George at the peak? But he didn't come back after that year

Say something nice first. George was indeed very strong in the early days. He averaged 28.0 points, 8.2 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 2.2 breaks in the Thunder (2018-19) in his peak season. He ranked in the top three in the league in the MVP list and second in the offensive firepower league, second only to Harden that year. That year, George not only scored into the Best Team, but also selected into the Best Defense Team, with an offense and defense, a complete all-round forward template.

But this is the problem - he never scored that level again after that year. When the Clippers joined forces with Xiaoka, the media originally hailed the "strongest forward combination". As a result, a few years later, the Clippers' label became a "glass combination". There are constant injuries, and either George is absent in the playoffs or Leonard is reimbursed. There are very few opportunities for both of them to be healthy at the same time.

Transfer to 76ers, George's big contract + low output = bad spokesperson?

Last summer, George and the Clippers held a breakdown in their talks. 76 people sent an olive branch and gave a four-year maximum salary contract of 212 million yuan, and the annual salary in the last year was as high as US$56.4 million! Logically speaking, contracts of this level should be the backbone of the team, right?

But the reality is that George's performance this season can only be described in two words: bad.

averaged 16.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 4.3 assists per game, and the score fell close to 6 points, with a shooting percentage falling to 43.8%, and the second-last career PER efficiency value was only 15.6, which was lower than many substitutes. This is not a temporary downturn, but a regular performance. What's even more terrible is that George is also a little "stand-out" in his mentality. The pace of the whole game is half a beat slow, the defense is not strong, and the offense is not efficient. Some fans said: "George is no longer playing games, he is waiting for the podcast to go online."

That's right, George's podcast career is now booming, and even the Philadelphia media can't help but sarcastic: "Players who average less than 20 points per game should put down the microphone first."

The 76ers lost the team. George is not the main reason, but he must not get rid of it.

George is not a single show. The whole season is a disaster scene:

The regular season only won 24 wins and 58 losses, with a winning rate of 29.3%

The first time after 7 years, he missed the playoffs

The net efficiency value of the team -7.6, Embiid is still "soft + injury", Maxi is unable to support the team, which clearly has all the stars on the books, but it is a lottery-level performance. If you are George, and seeing Embiid's difficulty even playing, the team is playing in a mess, how can your mentality not collapse? But this is the problem: you are a star with an annual salary of 56 million yuan. How can you stay out of the team’s collapse?

76 people are going to be cleaned this summer, and George is on the shelves?

According to ESPN reporters, the 76ers are preparing for major adjustments this summer, and are even willing to use George + Tanhua as bargaining chips to try to trade new goals such as Durant or Markkanen. In other words, the 76ers also realized that George's current cost-effectiveness is really too low.

To put it bluntly, George's problem is not that he has no ability at all, but that he no longer has the "spirit of competing for the championship". His personal offensive methods are still very smooth, and his three-pointers, jump shots, and emergency stops are still picturesque, but these cannot support a team that wants to compete for the championship.

written at the end of Paul George, and he is indeed worthy of the word "superstar"; but now he is far more famous than his strength. Playing retirement balls with maximum salary, and doing podcasts with great fun. If he doesn’t want to compete for the championship, then what can we use to believe that the 76ers still have a future?

Maybe a few years later, when we look back at George's career, we can only say: he was strong once, but never really dominated any team.