{"id":747438,"date":"2026-07-07T00:12:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-07T00:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/747438\/"},"modified":"2026-07-07T00:12:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T00:12:16","slug":"report-celtics-paul-george-turns-down-3-9-million-trade-bonus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/747438\/","title":{"rendered":"Report: Celtics’ Paul George turns down $3.9 million trade bonus"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBoston Celtics\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGeorge had a bonus in his contract which would have taken his cap hit up to the $57.7 million league maximum.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n\tPaul George Matt Slocum\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\"07celtics\"\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t5 takeaways from the Celtics\u2019 press conference about the Jaylen Brown trade\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCedric Maxwell has a message for Jaylen Brown: Don\u2019t bash the Celtics on the way out\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

According to a report from ESPN\u2019s Bobby Marks,<\/a> Paul George has waived his $3.9 million trade bonus.<\/p>\n

George, who has been traded three times and is set to play for his fifth different NBA franchise this offseason, had a clause in his contract that would have given him a pay raise if he was traded. <\/p>\n

He has opted not to take the extra money, keeping his salary cap hit at $54.1 million for next season. Other stars, including James Harden and Anthony Davis, have either turned down or reduced trade bonuses in recent years, Marks said. <\/p>\n

The Celtics<\/a>, roughly $30 million over the salary cap, could use some cap relief. According to Spotrac<\/a>, they have $25 million in space before they\u2019ll hit the first luxury tax apron.<\/p>\n

Paul George waived his $3.9M trade bonus, sources tell ESPN. <\/p>\n

His cap hit in Boston remains at $54.1M and $56.6M (P)<\/p>\n

\u2014 Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) July 6, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n

Boston has gone into the second apron recently, but staying out of it appears to be a priority because would incur steep basketball penalties designed specifically for \u201crepeaters.\u201d<\/p>\n

The second-apron basketball penalties, which are so severe that Wyc Grousbeck predicted<\/a> no team over the next 40 years would be able to withstand them for longer than two seasons in a row, include the following:<\/p>\n

Not being able to use cash in trades<\/p>\n

Not being able to trade first-round picks seven years out<\/p>\n

Not being able to execute sign-and-trade deals that keep the team over the cap<\/p>\n

Having their first round pick automatically move to the end of the round if they\u2019ve been in the second apron three out of five years<\/p>\n

The Celtics traded Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis last offseason as part of their efforts to get out of the second apron. <\/p>\n

Plus, during their joint press conference at the Auerbach Center on Monday, Brad Stevens and Bill Chisholm justified the Jaylen Brown trade<\/a> by saying that having two players take up 70 percent of the salary cap was unsustainable in the long term.<\/p>\n

Chisholm was asked what he would say to fans who point out that the Celtics have traded several stars for salary cap\/luxury tax relief since his investment group bought the team last year. The Celtics have now jettisoned three of the five starters from the 2024 championship team.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery decision that was made, the prior decisions, I should say those are basketball-related decisions. We would have gutted the team for the future had we not done those things,\u201d he said. \u201cThe second apron is a real thing and I know you know that. Those are not about the money, those are basketball decisions.\u201d<\/p>\n

By turning down his trade bonus, George\u2019s cap hit will be $54.1 million next season instead of the $57.7 million maximum and the Celtics get a little more room to operate as they look to rebuild in the aftermath of the Brown trade.<\/p>\n

\t\t\"Profile\t<\/p>\n

\t\tKhari A. Thompson<\/a>Sports Reporter\t<\/p>\n

Khari Thompson covers professional sports for Boston.com. Before joining the team in 2022, Khari covered college football for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet the latest Boston sports news<\/p>\n

Receive updates on your favorite Boston teams, straight from our newsroom to your inbox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Boston Celtics George had a bonus in his contract which would have taken his cap hit up to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":747439,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-747438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747438","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=747438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747438\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/747439"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=747438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=747438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=747438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}