Paul George Calls 1st Clippers Offer 'disrespectful', he 'never wanted to leave LA.'

So maybe this is your father's Los Angeles Clippers team—the team your Dad may have watched be mismanaged from ownership to the coaching staff during the 1980s and 90s.

Certainly, no disrespect to Steve Ballmer, who single-handled turned around the worst franchise in the NBA and, at the very least, turned the team into a mid-level contender; still, if the way Paul George describes his negotiations with the Clippers is true, then it is fair to call the modern clippers your fathers Clippers.

George went into great detail about his side of talks with the Clippers on his podcast, "Podcast P with Paul George," which was published Monday.

During the podcast, he said that he never wanted to leave Los Angeles but that a "disrespectful" Clippers offer in October set the tone for negotiations. He went on to say their first offer at the start of last season was for two years at $60 million.

"Just to put it out there, like, I never wanted to leave LA," George said (29:00, below). "Initially I was not trying to leave LA. LA is home, this is where I wanted to finish at. I wanted to work as hard as possible to win one in LA. That was the goal, to be here and be committed to LA.

"As it played out though, like the first initial deal was, I thought, kind of disrespectful. Again, in all of this, no hard feelings, no love lost. It's a business.

"So the first initial deal was like two years, 60 [million]. So I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa. ... So I'm like, nah. I'm not signing that."

"Then I hear wind of what they're going to give Kawhi," George continued. "So, I'm like, 'just give me what Kawhi got. Y'all view us the same. We came here together, we want to finish this s*** together. I'll take what Kawhi got.' No problem. I was cool with that.

"And we were still taking less [than max contract value]. Kawhi took less. I was like if Kawhi's gonna take less, I’m not gonna say I want more that Kawhi. It's not about me being paid more than him. I'm gonna take what he got. Y'all give him that, give me that. They didn't want to do that."

In the middle of the season, George told the Clippers to give him the same deal they gave to Leonard, but it did not happen. Fast-forward to the end of the season, and the Clippers finally offered George a similar deal to Leonard, at which point George asked for a four-year max $212 million deal or a three-year deal with a no-trade clause.

For whatever reason, the Clippers did not do either deal and, just like your father's Clippers, totally blew the opportunity to keep one of the best two-way players in the NBA as they prepare to move into their new $2 billion Intuit Dome.

"I love [owner] Steve [Ballmer], I love [president of basketball operations] Lawrence [Frank]," George continued. "But at that point, it didn't even feel right to come back with that type of energy and be comfortable playing back in LA."