There is nothing like the offseason in the NBA. Free Agency, Trades, and a Draft exist in many other professional sport leagues, but no league can seem to compare to the amount of star players that switch teams each offseason in the NBA. Moves such as Lebron James joining the Miami Heat in 2010 or Kevin Durant signing with the Golden State Warriors in 2016 define these future Hall-of-Famers legacies arguably more than any moment on the court ever could have. These moves also seemed to spark a chain reaction in player movement that has bled over into other sports. The constant player movement has helped the NBA by keeping fans intrigued, as there are always headlines surrounding star players. Frequent player movement among the game’s biggest stars can also allow a struggling team to reach relevance seemingly overnight. When it comes to rising to relevance and becoming involved in constant drama with NBA stars, the Philadelphia 76ers have dealt with this as much as any team in basketball.

At 3:30 am on July 1st, 2024, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski broke the news that the Philadelphia 76ers had agreed to sign Free Agent guard/forward Paul George to a four-year $212 million contract. On paper, it seems as if Philadelphia has finally found a third star to team up with the 2022-23 MVP Joel Embiid and an emerging superstar in the 23-year-old guard Tyrese Maxey. 76ers fans rejoiced as they felt like the team was finally aggressive in improving the roster in the offseason. The Sixers even saw their championship odds shift from +1400 on the evening of June 30th to a much more favorable +800 at BetMGM Sportsbook. So if it all seems like the pieces are falling into place for the Sixers to finally make it to an Eastern Conference Finals and possibly beyond, how could adding Paul George to a team with two All-NBA caliber players lead to the same result of playoff disappointment?

For starters, the 76ers have been here before. During the 2018-19 season, the Sixers were trying to leap from a young team excited to be in the playoffs to a legitimate title contender. They traded for guard/forward Jimmy Butler, who was 29 years old and coming off his fourth consecutive All-Star season before the Sixers had played their tenth game. The Sixers followed that up by acquiring Tobias Harris near that year’s trade deadline. It was good enough for the Sixers’ second consecutive 50-win season after missing the playoffs for five years prior. It was also the second season in a row Philadelphia would fail to make it out of the second round, and Jimmy Butler would leave to join the Miami Heat the following offseason. The Sixers did resign Tobias Harris to a five-year $180 million extension, but the Sixers would still see three more second-round playoff exits and two first-round exits in those five seasons. The most recent concluded with a first-round loss to the New York Knicks to end their 2024 season. The Tobias Harris era in Philadelphia also made the forward the highest-paid player across his career in NBA history to never appear in an All-Star game.

The 76ers would again attempt to find a third star to pair with Joel Embiid and their emerging superstar guard with another midseason trade during the 2021-22 season. This time the Sixers added a former MVP in James Harden. The team also made a change at point guard and was building around Tyrese Maxey. Ben Simmons was sent to the Brooklyn Nets as a part of the package to acquire a 32-year-old Harden. The Sixers would again lose in the second round in Harden’s first year in Philadelphia. James Harden returned to Philly for the 2022-23 season, and the Sixers would again lose in the second round after holding a 3-2 lead against the Boston Celtics. As the 2023-24 season began, Harden would force his way to the Los Angeles Clippers via trade after Harden’s relationship with Sixers president of basketball operations, Daryl Morey, fell into disrepair.

Compared to the Sixers’ recent acquisitions of stars, there are more concerns with George. Jimmy Butler was 29 years old and had a $20.4 million cap hit for his one season in Philly. James Harden was 31 when traded and had a cap hit of $44.3 million in 2022 and $33 million for the 2022-23 season. Paul George is 34 years old and has a cap hit of $49.2 million for the upcoming season, with his salary cap figure increasing every season before capping at $56.6 per season in 2027-28, when George will be 37, according to Spotrac.com. While Philadelphia did not have to trade away anything to get George, his massive cap hit for the next four years could handcuff the Sixers far more than trading away role players and future picks ever did.

There is also the question of what Paul George’s ceiling of playoff success can be. He has made the playoffs 11 times in 15 seasons but has only made the conference finals round three times and has never been to an NBA finals. Two of those three conference finals appearances came in 2012 and 2013 with the Indiana Pacers. Paul George has also been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs seven times and has made it past the second round once in the past decade.

The Sixers’ new forward also comes with some durability issues. Last season was his first season playing over 60 games in five seasons and George’s only as a member of the Los Angeles Clippers. His first major injury was a broken leg suffered while playing in the 2014 FIBA World Cup for Team USA in the offseason that sidelined the reigning All-Star and member of the All-Defensive first team out until April of the following season. George’s next big injury occurred when he required two shoulder surgeries following the 2018-19 with the Oklahoma City Thunder due to injuries he suffered during the season. Even though he continued to play through the injury in the fall of 2019 to begin the new season and George’s career with the Los Angeles Clippers as he recovered from his surgeries. In February of 2021, he suffered a foot injury that led to seven straight missed games and 15 games over for the remainder of the season. In December of 2021, George suffered a UCL tear in his left elbow that caused him to miss three months. His final notable injury as a member of the Clippers was a right knee sprain suffered in late March of 2023 that ended George’s season nine games early.

The 76ers have not made it past the second round of the playoffs since they lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Finals in 2001. Getting a younger star player who was still improving, or a player with consistent deep playoff experience should have been the priority for Philly. Paul George is undoubtedly a star player, but his better years are likely behind him at age 34. He is likely not getting any better with injuries as the years tick by, and his playoff record also shows he has not been able to get it done against the league’s other stars in the postseason. George is a phenomenal scorer and one of the top players in the 21st century, but there is a reason the Clippers let him go for nothing. It did not help when the relationship between the Clippers and George appeared to sour after the arrival of James Harden, and the Clippers extended Harden after George went to Philadelphia against his former teammate’s advice.

There is a world where the trio of Maxey, Embiid, and George all stay healthy and make a deep postseason run, but it is unlikely. The 76ers have the surrounding talent that could take them to a championship, with players such as Kelly Oubre Jr., Caleb Martin, Andre Drummond, and Jared McCain filling out the roster. Despite this, the most likely outcome is that Embiid or George (or both) are nursing injuries as the Sixers enter the playoffs and let another second-round series slip out of their hands. But Embiid, Maxey, and George each have multiple years remaining and have a contract worth over $200 million in total guarantees. If nothing else, the 76ers have ensured that this trio will have multiple full seasons together to try to return the Larry O’Brien trophy to Philadelphia for the first time since 1983.