The Warriors’ trade offers included Chris Paul and Wiggins before the opt-out

The Golden State Warriors reportedly offered the Los Angeles Clippers several trade options for Paul George before the All-Star decided to opt out of his contract and become an unrestricted free agent.

Tim Kawakami of The Athletic reported that the offers included Chris Paul, Andrew Wiggins, Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody and a future first-round pick in some combination. The report suggests that the Warriors “definitely” wouldn’t include all of the pieces, but the front office believed they “proposed several variations of a trade that the Clippers could and would accept.”

Golden State was also willing to give George a new max contract extension, but any trade would require him to opt out of the final year of his current deal.

George has instead decided against opting out and will look at the free agent market. Shams Charania The Athletic and Stadium reported that George will meet with the Clippers, Philadelphia 76ers and Orlando Magic at the start of free agency. Both the Sixers and Magic have enough cap space to sign George outright.

The Clippers and George have been negotiating a contract extension for months, to no avail. George insists he wants his four-year max, while the Clippers have offered him a contract similar to the three-year, $149.7 million deal Kawhi Leonard signed in January. This has created a coward’s game in some ways, as the Clippers are on the verge of losing George for nothing hours before free agency if they refuse to shell out his full max.

Lawrence Frank, the Clippers’ president of basketball operations, told reporters that the team wants to keep George but must consider the financial implications of the new collective bargaining agreement.

“This is a business and the reality of the new CBA has an impact on teams like us,” Frank said. “When your better players are in their 30s and you’re trying to build a sustainable roster, it has an impact.”

“For example, if there was no CBA, (team owner) Steve Ballmer would have a free hand. The new CBA is not even about the money, it’s about how to build a sustainable roster and maintain your tools to have transactional flexibility. And there are really, really difficult decisions that come with that.”

As currently constituted, the Clippers are about $54.1 million under the first tax line and $65 million under the second. Re-signing George would put them close to the first line without even considering the possibility of James Harden returning. Returning Harden and George would mean the Clippers would have to go over the second line, which would severely limit their flexibility in roster construction going forward.

The CBA has also forced the Warriors into their own pay cut, as they will likely see Klay Thompson leave as a free agent this summer, which is largely a financial decision. Golden State has regularly been the NBA’s most expensive team in recent years, but owner Joe Lacob has spoken openly about wanting to avoid the tax.

Losing George puts the Warriors at a tipping point. The team could easily get under the tax by giving up Chris Paul’s $30 million contract, but that move would likely send the Warriors into the lottery for the foreseeable future.