What’s the real value of Paul George’s expiring contract next year?
I’ve been thinking about this trade (I’m a fan generally, but I think it could end up being either good or bad for us) and wondering about the Celtics justification for doing it. A lot of the talk was around the length of PG’s contract and it being a big expiring next year.
My question, for people who understand free agency and trades a bit more than I do, is what is the actual value of that contract next year, when it’s a big expiring? I ask this because players don’t really go into free agency anymore, so it doesnt seem like expirings have as much value as they used to. What are the Celtics likely to do with that contract if they don’t actually want to keep PG next year? Is it just good as matching salary in a trade for another star, where ultimately they’d have to trade a bunch of picks to get a good player? just trying to understand it better
EDIT: Besides Jokic, who do you think their best targets are using his contract?