His career salary is 520 million, fifth in history. He was out for 7 months but could not come back! Should George consider retiring?

The new NBA season is about to kick off. Not long ago, Durant officially completed a two-year contract extension of 90 million with the Rockets. He took the initiative to cut his salary to give the team more room to operate in order to retain Ethan and Amen in the future. This brings Durant's total career salary to $598.2 million, surpassing James and ranking first in history. What is more surprising is that the 10 players with the highest total salary in NBA history are all active players. In addition to Zanduku, Booker's total salary has also reached US$520 million. Paul George (516.9 million) also exceeded the US$500 million mark. Thanks to the continuous expansion of the NBA's commercial territory and the skyrocketing broadcast contracts, stars have naturally become the biggest beneficiaries. According to calculations, as soon as the summer of 2033, the league will have a super maximum salary of 500 million in five years!

The US media "BR" and ESPN are also making predictions for the new season. It is certain that the Western Conference will be very fierce. The playoff threshold (sixth in the Western Conference) is expected to be 50 wins, and the play-off threshold is (tenth in the Western Conference) 44 wins. The Eastern side is much easier, with the playoff threshold expected to be 43 wins and the play-off threshold likely to be 38 wins! Except for the Knicks and Cavaliers, the two favorites to win the championship, other teams have obvious shortcomings. There is a detail here, that is, the US media believes that the 76ers are likely to become the dark horses in the Eastern Conference in the new season, provided that Embiid plays in at least 70% of the games. Embiid complained a lot about the 76ers during the offseason, and said in training camp that he had no time to come back, but he still played in the last game of the preseason, scoring 14 points, 7 rebounds, 8 assists and 3 steals in 19 minutes.

Although many media and fans are dissatisfied with Embiid, Embiid does belong to the tough-talking type. He will definitely not deliberately avoid the games he can play. But what about Paul George, another big man of the 76ers? First of all, Paul George's career total salary can enter the top five in history. He really has to thank the 76ers management for the four-year 212 million super maximum salary contract provided last summer. There are three years left on this contract, and the salaries are 51.67 million + 54.13 million + 56.59 million respectively. George's salary for the new season is at the same level as James, and is higher than Cavaliers boss Mitchell, Pistons boss Cunningham and others. Starting with a piece of news, after the 76ers concluded their preseason game, coach Nurse revealed a "good news": George can finally participate in some 5V5 confrontation training.

The reason why I put quotation marks is because Nas immediately changed the topic: This does not mean that he can play in the opening game or come back immediately. We don’t know when he can (come back), and we have to continue to wait. According to the famous reporter Charania, George's team has expectations for his return at the beginning of the new season. Including on the media day, George made it clear that he will play the role of the team leader in the new season. His physical condition was not good last season, but it will not be worse. Is George still trustworthy? In the 23-24 season, when surrounded by Kawhi and Harden, George averaged 22.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game, successfully deceiving the 76ers. Coming to the 76ers, he played a total of 41 games last season, averaging 16.2 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game, with a two-way shooting percentage of 42% + 35%.

To make a simple comparison, Oubre can also produce George's data. Oubre's victory contribution value is higher than George, but Oubre only takes 8.3 million in the new season, which is one-sixth of George's! When he came to the 76ers last season, George suffered from elbow injuries, shoulder injuries, finger sprains, knee injuries, and ankle injuries. During the offseason, George underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee. It is not too much to ask whether he can return to the performance level he had with the Clippers. How many games can he play in the new season? George is not young anymore. He will be 36 next year. There are so many injuries all over his body at this stage. In addition, the team's young people are blowing out. From the top pick Edgcomb, to the devil McCain, and even Grimes who signed a qualifying offer, they all performed better than George.

It has been more than 7 months since he played his last game against the Timberwolves in March this year (played 30 minutes, scored 7 points, 7 rebounds and 6 assists on 3-of-11 shooting, and was criticized by the Philadelphia media for not being able to attack and losing confidence). In addition to offseason surgery, it is still unclear when he will return! Taking a step back, what will happen if he comes back? Last season, Embiid + George + Maxey played together for 295 minutes and lost 0.6 points per 100 possessions; George and Embiid played at the same time and lost 5.6 points per 100 possessions! If the 76ers still have some expectations for Embiid, because Embiid is younger, was the MVP two years ago, and is the team's current cornerstone and guarantee; then the only expectation for George is to stay healthy, and there is definitely no trade market.

Of course, the 76ers have a chance to get rid of George's big contract, that is, when there are 2 years and 110 million US dollars left in the contract next summer, just like the Bucks did with Lillard, they choose to say goodbye to him by cutting him off + extending the payment over 5 years! Lillard is bought out and can return to the Trail Blazers to retire. Where can George go? The Pacers have long since changed their dynasty and will make a comeback in the future when Haliburton recovers from injury; the Thunder and Clippers don't need it. The most important thing is that as George's ability declined, he also lost confidence, and he focused on boasting in his podcast show. If he keeps playing like this, George will indeed be close to retirement.