Would the Portland Trail Blazers make the trade?
As much as it would be difficult to incentivize the Clippers into trading George, it may be just as difficult to envisage the Trail Blazers trading Grant for this price.
It's not that he's completely off limits by any means -- when they re-signed him to a five-year, $160 million contract last offseason, it seemed a strange move given the franchise appeared headed in a different, far younger direction.
While Portland would expect to get something better for Grant, it's not totally inconceivable that they could make this trade with the interest of opening up significantly greater financial flexibility going forward. Rather than pay Grant for another four years while in rebuilding mode, they get Chris Paul's expiring $30 million contract.
They'd likely orchestrate a buyout with the 39-year-old almost immediately, though perhaps there would be some merit in holding him, letting him mentor Scoot Henderson for half a season, then re-evaluating to see whether a team would offer an asset for his expiring deal.
Rip City Project's Reese Kunz evaluated a proposed trade last month that saw Grant dealt to the Toronto Raptors for Bruce Brown, a 2028 first-round pick swap, and a 2027 second-round pick, grading the transaction as a B+ for the Trail Blazers.
While Brown would certainly hold more value than Paul, getting an unprotected 2027 first-round pick from the Warriors would likely be more valuable than the Raptors pick swap. Therefore perhaps there's a possibility that they're motivated enough to make this deal. What about the Warriors?