LAS VEGAS — Home is where the heart is, and when one or both parties have had time to sit down and allow things to settle in it becomes more apparent. The first day of the NBA Summer league began Friday night for the Los Angeles Clippers, and the most noticeable person is no longer on the team. Former All-Star player for the Clippers Paul George was in attendance to watch his old team take on the Houston Rockets.

Before the game, young Clipper fans rushed near the baseline to try and get close to George. In the off-season of 2024, George became a free agent and signed with the Philadelphia 76ers. Since then, it has been a bit of a rocky relationship between George and the Clipper organization and fan base, but it was good to see George get the reactions he deserved. Met with chants of “Paul, Paul, Paul” from young Clipper fans.

Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and President of basketball operations Lawrence Frank are not the only ones he was friendly with. George’s former teammate Kawhi Leonard shared a short conversation with him.

In their five year tenure together, Leonard and George didn’t win a championship, but they led the Clippers to their first ever conference finals appearance in 2021. Unfortunately, injuries from 2021-2024 at the wrong times prevented this duo from winning a championship. However, when they shared the court together, they dominated.

Kawhi Leonard and Paul George will finish their 5 years together having played just 26 playoff games together.

They finish with a 137-70 record when playing together, a .662 winning percentage.

They finished 124-57 (.685) together in the regular season and 13-13 (.500)…

— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) July 1, 2024

A year ago around this time, the relationship between George and the organization highlighted that they were in a much different place. According to reports, the Clippers had given George multiple offers to extend his contract throughout the season, but George felt the offers were disrespectful for a player of his caliber. This led to George being dealt to the 76ers in the off-season.

Frank, who is on the top when it comes to roster construction for the Clippers. He spoke to his side while he wanted to retain George; it could not come with the cost of the overall team. According to Frank, it all revolved around the new CBA and the second apron, which if teams went over a certain salary that would come with penalties.

                     

Watching how George and Frank interacted at the game Friday night, it seems that both sides really do love each other. Why wouldn’t they? The Clippers had some special times together. The friendly interactions from former Clippers staff member were not to only George but also his son.

This is an opportunity to bury any harsh feelings between both parties, and understand this was more of a business decision than any personal feelings.

“I mean it’s stupid. I was a free agent. It wasn’t something that I demanded a trade or went against the team. They presented a team friendly offer and I did what was best for me. There were cheers, those are the ones I… pic.twitter.com/9cl7shVpdz

While George had an extremely great performance in his first game returning back to Los Angeles  Let’s see if the reaction is similar to the game on Friday night.