While Joel Embiid's injury history and contract structure make him among the hardest stars to trade in the league, Paul George has steadily recovered his market value and is now viewed by rival executives as the more moveable piece if the Philadelphia 76ers decide to rebuild around Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe.

Multiple executives indicated that Embiid's persistent availability issues make any serious trade effort difficult to structure. No definitive push to move the center is expected this offseason, regardless of who leads the front office after they parted ways with Daryl Morey.

George presents a fundamentally different profile. At 36, he carries one guaranteed season at $54.1 million for 2026-27, followed by a $56.6 million player option in 2027-28. That structure creates room for a potential suitor to offer a multi-year extension at a lower annual figure if George were willing to bypass the option year.

After serving a 25-game suspension for a banned substance, George shot 49.2% from three-point range during the postseason. The shooting, playmaking, and wing defense he demonstrated suggest meaningful value remains.

The Trae Young trade offers a pricing benchmark. The Atlanta Hawks received only two team-friendly contracts, CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert, and no draft compensation in that deal. If George's cost lands in a similar range, the number of interested teams grows considerably.

Several executives have noted that Embiid's three-year, $188 million extension, which begins next season, was viewed internally as the more consequential front-office error committed by Morey. The extension was structured in part to secure George's free-agent commitment in 2024, a sequence that made sense at the time but now leaves Philadelphia carrying two complicated contracts with limited postseason results to show for either.