Reports from Adrian Wojnarowski and Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports indicate that the Indiana Pacers are about to sign their all-star forward Paul George to a five-year contract worth max money (about $90 million based on NBA revenues over the next five years, and George’s performance).
George will receive the NBA’s special “designated player” tag from the Pacers. The tag allows the Pacers to sign George for a fifth year instead of the normal maximum four year extension. George joins Derrick Rose, James Harden, Blake Griffin and Russell Westbrook as the only players to have been given the label since the signing of the NBA CBA in 2011.
The 23-year-old George was named the NBA’s Most Improved Player last season, and led the Pacers all the way to the Eastern Conference Final, where they fell in a hard fought, seven-game series against the eventual NBA Champion Miami Heat. The Pacers seem poised to make another run this year, as they return their core, and get a big addition with Danny Granger coming back from last year’s knee injury that cost him most of the year.
“Now that I have this contract, I’ve got to do more work,” George said earlier this week. “I’ve got to go out and play at the level the guys that are making this much money are playing at.”
George will make 25% of the salary cap in each of his five seasons. However, if George is able to make a second appearance on an all-NBA team (he was third team all-NBA last year) that number would rise to 30% making the exact value of this contract unknown today. George was the youngest player on any All-NBA team last season.
George averaged 17.4 points, 2.2 three pointers, 7.6 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 1.8 steals and 0.6 blocks per game for the Pacers last season.
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