4 best Paul George trade destinations if 76ers’ Daryl Morey replacement wants to move on

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The Philadelphia 76ers, almost immediately after seeing their season come to an end, decided to make a change in the team’s brain trust — letting Daryl Morey go from his post as the team’s president of basketball operations. Morey was at the helm in Philadelphia for six seasons, and under his watch, the furthest the team reached in the playoffs was the second round.

Morey, however, wasn’t without his big wins and big gambles. Morey did make the huge signing of Paul George in the summer of 2024, and George, to his credit, performed well enough to get the 76ers past their archrival Boston Celtics in the first round of the 2026 NBA playoffs.

George’s contract looked like an albatross to begin his 76ers tenure, as his play dropped off amid Philadelphia’s nightmare 2024-25 campaign. However, struggles late in the New York Knicks series notwithstanding, George has since proven that he can still provide plenty of value to a contending team as a solid one-on-one defender who’s elite in a team context and he’s someone who can space the floor at a high level.

It remains to be seen, however, just how much the new 76ers brass will be valuing George moving forward. George has two years left on his contract, although he has a player option worth $56.6 million for the 2027-28 season.

With the 36-year-old having rehabilitated his value of sorts, perhaps the new 76ers brain trust deems this offseason to be the perfect time to move on from George so they could re-allocate the considerable amount of cap room his contract is eating up towards the rest of the roster.

Should George find himself on the trade block, here are a few teams that should show interest.

The Heat are always going to be on the market for star players, and while George is no longer an All-Star-caliber player, he would still represent an upgrade for the team on the wings. George fits a gritty and defensive-minded team like the Heat have, and he’ll be able to provide secondary scoring from the forward spots as well.

Perhaps the 76ers would be interested in adding Andrew Wiggins and Nikola Jovic in return; Wiggins, however, has a player option for next season so he needs to resolve that first before he becomes a trade chip for the Heat.

With Steve Kerr returning for his 13th season coaching the Warriors, it will be surprising if the Dubs just throw in the towel and begin their rebuild — not with Stephen Curry still playing at a high level.

However, the Warriors are in a tough roster predicament. Jimmy Butler is not going to be returning anytime soon after tearing his ACL back in January, while the Dubs don’t have much in the way of tantalizing young prospects who can get them much in the way of a trade.

Kristaps Porzingis is injury-prone, and it’s not quite clear how beneficial it would be for the Warriors to bring Porzingis back if it meant signing him to a huge, long-term contract.

Perhaps it would be an enticing proposition for the Warriors to acquire a healthy George in exchange for Butler’s expiring contract and a few draft assets. The 76ers are going to be on the losing end of that trade for certain, and that is not going to help them in the interim.

But Butler’s contract is at least guaranteed to expire at season’s end, while George may pick up his player option for the 2027-28 season considering that he won’t be making anything close to $56.6 million if he hits free agency. The 76ers, should they end up hitting the reset button, could find this situation to be agreeable as well to clear cap space one year earlier.

For the Warriors, George at least gives them an elite defender on the wing, someone who can make open triples and create some offense for the team when Curry is on the bench. Most importantly, he gives them a warm body who can actually suit up and help them in their playoff push for next season.

The Lakers are going to be big-game hunting this offseason, with Giannis Antetokounmpo looming large at the top of their trade wish list. But LA is going to have to wait before making any significant roster decisions, as nearly all of the members of their playoff rotation are about to enter free agency.

Seriously: LeBron James, Rui Hachimura, Luke Kennard, and Jaxson Hayes are free agents. Austin Reaves is 100 percent going to be decline his player option. Both Deandre Ayton and Marcus Smart might want to sign multi-year deals instead of opting into their contracts for the 2026-27 season.

But in terms of sheer fit, George stands out for the Lakers as someone who could have helped them a lot in this year’s playoffs. He’s a 6’9″ wing who can cover multiple positions on defense, as he could have helped LA cover more ground as they loaded up on Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. George also could have enabled the Lakers to play more small ball, as he could have been a viable defender to put on Chet Holmgren.

The problem with trading for George is that the Lakers scarcely have any pieces to give the 76ers for salary-matching purposes. Sign-and-trade agreements would hard cap the 76ers at the first apron. But sheer fit and name value would make the Lakers quite a realistic destination for George should Philly decide to dangle him on the market.

It’s become quite clear in recent years that the Magic have a cap problem that they will have to figure out sooner or later. Paolo Banchero’s max contract is set to kick in, and as things stand, Orlando will have around $155 million already committed next season to just four players: Banchero, Franz Wagner, Desmond Bane, and Jalen Suggs.

That’s without taking into account the $18.1 million Wendell Carter Jr. is owed next season. Jonathan Isaac has $8 million in guaranteed money for this season (the Magic are most likely letting him go), and the Magic already have $25 million committed to the rest of the roster. They are most likely going to be in the first apron next season, and they don’t have too many ways to improve the roster.

For better or for worse, this is the core the Magic are going to be rolling with for the next few years. But Orlando just suffered another first-round exit.

Maybe Jamahl Mosley’s successor would be able to maximize this roster completely. But if the Magic decide to loosen up their cap obligations for the next few years, perhaps taking on Paul George’s contract, which expires next season, could be helpful.

George should fit the team’s defense-first identity, and he’s a reliable marksman from deep. This past season, he shot 39.2 percent from beyond the arc, and in the playoffs, that percentage improved to 49.3.

The Magic are going to have to take a huge risk to bring George in. There is no way that they’ll be dangling Banchero, Wagner, or Bane in exchange for the 36-year-old veteran. If anyone, Suggs is the one who’ll be headed to Philly.

Suggs doesn’t have the cleanest bill of health, and he struggled immensely in the 2026 NBA playoffs. He shot 29.9 percent from the field during their seven-game series loss to the Detroit Pistons, and that simply won’t cut it.

With Orlando having to pay Anthony Black soon, clearing out space with a Suggs trade could be what ends up happening for them. Convincing George to then decline his player option for the 2027-28 season would then be the cherry on top.

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