George heading to 76ers, Caldwell-Pope to Magic, CP3 to Spurs, AP sources say

Paul George is going back to the Eastern Conference, and surely has made Joel Embiid very happy in the process.

George will sign a four-year, $212 million contract with the Philadelphia 76ers, a person with knowledge of the move told The Associated Press early Monday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal cannot be finalized until July 6 by NBA rule.

The move was finalized a few hours into the start of NBA free agency, but Embiid — Philadelphia's center and the 2022-23 NBA MVP — began planting the seeds for this at least a couple weeks ago. He and George made a television appearance together during the NBA Finals, one where the Philadelphia center suggested he'd like to see the veteran wing join him with the 76ers.

And it happened. The Los Angeles Clippers, now George's former team, said earlier Sunday night that he would not be back with them going forward — and from there, it was just a matter of the nine-time All-Star working out terms with the 76ers.

“Paul has informed us that he is signing his next contract with another team,” the Clippers said in a release.

The team added: “We negotiated for months with Paul and his representative on a contract that would make sense for both sides, and we were left far apart. The gap was significant. We understand and respect Paul’s decision to look elsewhere for his next contract.”

George had a $48.8 million option for this coming season but did not exercise it, entering free agency — which opened Sunday night — instead. It was believed there was a chance that George and the Clippers could have still gotten something done, but the team made clear that those hopes are gone.

“We will miss Paul,” the Clippers said.

At 34, George is still elite — averaging 22.6 points this past season, the ninth consecutive season in which he has averaged at least 20 points per game.

Meanwhile, James Harden is staying with the Clippers on a two-year contract that includes a player option, a person with knowledge of that decision told AP earlier Sunday.

Harden’s deal — which could be worth up to $70 million if he opts into 2025-26 — was agreed upon in principle before free agency technically started, said the person who spoke to AP on condition of anonymity because neither Harden nor the Clippers had announced the agreement.

Harden, a 10-time NBA All-Star, averaged 16.6 points and 8.5 assists last season for the Clippers, who will move into their new Intuit Dome home when this coming season starts.

Elsewhere, veteran guard Chris Paul is going to team up with rookie of the year Victor Wembanyama in San Antonio on a one-year deal, a person with knowledge of that agreement said.

Paul was waived earlier Sunday by the Golden State Warriors, who would have had to pay him $30 million for the coming season otherwise. ESPN reported the Spurs will pay Paul around $11 million. The 39-year-old Paul averaged 9.2 points and 6.8 assists in 58 games with the Warriors last season.

And Kentavious Caldwell-Pope is going to bring his championship experience to the Orlando Magic, a team that made a big jump this past season and now is trying to become an even stronger contender in the East.

Caldwell-Pope — a two-time champion guard — was finalizing a three-year, $66 million deal with the Magic, a person with knowledge of the decision said. The person spoke on condition of anonymity to AP because the deal cannot be finalized until the league's offseason moratorium is lifted on July 6.

It's a big get for the rising Magic, who won 47 games — their most in 13 years — and got back to the playoffs this past season. Caldwell-Pope was part of title-winning teams with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020 and the Denver Nuggets in 2023. He averaged 10.1 points for the Nuggets this past season while shooting nearly 41% from 3-point range.

In other notable moves Sunday:

— Kevin Love was completing a new two-year contract with the Miami Heat worth about $8 million, a person with knowledge of that deal told AP, the move coming one day after he did not opt into what would have been a $4 million contract for this coming season with the club. Love had said repeatedly last season that he has no intentions of leaving Miami.

— Andre Drummond agreed to a two-year contract worth about $10 million (the second year as an option) to join the Philadelphia 76ers, a team that he appeared in 49 games for during the 2021-22 season. Drummond spent the last two seasons in Chicago — he averaged 8.4 points and 9.0 rebounds this past season in only 17 minutes per game — and would be valuable insurance alongside Embiid in the 76ers' big-man rotation. “I'm in the mood for a Philly cheesesteak,” Drummond posted on social media.

— Obi Toppin is being rewarded nicely for his strong first season with Indiana. A person with knowledge of the agreement said he and the Pacers were finalizing a four-year deal worth nearly $60 million. Toppin averaged a career-best 10.3 points last season, his first with Indiana after three years in New York.

— Promising wing Max Christie is returning to the Los Angeles Lakers with a four-year, $32 million contract, a person with knowledge of the deal told AP. The 21-year-old Christie averaged 3.8 points, 2.0 rebounds and 0.8 assists during his first two NBA seasons.

— The NBA set the salary cap at at $140.588 million for the 2024-25 season, down slightly — about $400,000 or so — from what teams had been told to expect. The tax level was set at $170.814 million, the first apron level will be $178.132 million, the second apron level will be $188.931 million, the non-taxpayer mid-level is $12.822 million, the taxpayer mid-level is $5.168 million, and the room mid-level is $7.983 million.

AP Sports Writers Greg Beacham in Los Angeles and Dan Gelston in Philadelphia contributed.

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA

FILE - Los Angeles Clippers forward Paul George, left, tries to shoots as Dallas Mavericks guard Josh Green, center, and center Daniel Gafford defend during the first half in Game 5 of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series Wednesday, May 1, 2024, in Los Angeles. George will sign a four-year, $212 million contract with the Philadelphia 76ers, a person with knowledge of the move told The Associated Press early Monday, July 1, 2024.(AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File)

FILE - Golden State Warriors guard Chris Paul, top left, looks to shoot against Utah Jazz guard Keyonte George, right, during the first half of an NBA basketball game in San Francisco, Sunday, April 14, 2024. Veteran guard Chris Paul is going to team up with rookie of the year Victor Wembanyama in San Antonio on a one-year deal, a person with knowledge of that agreement said. Paul was waived earlier Sunday, June 30, by the Golden State Warriors.(AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn, FIle)

FILE - Philadelphia 76ers' Joel Embiid, left, tries to hang onto the ball against Los Angeles Clippers' Paul George during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Friday, Dec. 23, 2022, in Philadelphia. Paul George is going back to the Eastern Conference, and surely has made Joel Embiid very happy in the process. George will sign a four-year, $212 million contract with the Philadelphia 76ers, a person with knowledge of the move told The Associated Press early Monday, July 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum, File)

FILE - Miami Heat's Kevin Love, right, looks to shoot against Milwaukee Bucks' Pat Connaughton, left, during the first half of an NBA basketball game Feb. 13, 2024, in Milwaukee. Love was finalizing a new contract Sunday, June 30, 2024, to remain with the Heat, a person with knowledge told The Associated Press. Love's new deal was to be in the range of $4 million annually. (AP Photo/Aaron Gash, File)

FILE - Los Angeles Clippers guard James Harden (1) drives past Dallas Mavericks guard Luka Doncic during Game 4 of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series April 28, 2024, in Dallas. As NBA free agency opened Sunday, June 30, 2024, Harden agreed to stay with the Clippers on a two-year contract worth up to $70 million, a person with knowledge of that agreement told The Associated Press. (AP Photo/Jeffrey McWhorter, File)

FILE - Los Angeles Clippers star Paul George, right, and Jerry West attend a groundbreaking ceremony of the Intuit Dome, Sept. 17, 2021, in Inglewood, Calif. The two-day NBA draft was tinged with sadness for the Clippers, who were without West in their war room. West spent the last seven years as a consultant for the team, helping recruit Kawhi Leonard and George. The Hall of Famer died June 12 at age 86. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu, File)

ATLANTA (AP) — Jail officials in Georgia's most populous county are violating the constitutional rights of people in their custody by failing to protect them from violence, using excessive force and holding them in filthy and unsafe conditions, U.S. Justice Department officials said Thursday.

The Fulton County Sheriff's Office doesn't adequately protect jail detainees from violence by other detainees, including stabbings, sexual abuse and killings, federal officials contend in a lengthy report that details alleged abuses and offers remedial actions that can be taken. Vulnerable populations, including people who are gay, transgender, young or who have serious mental illness, are particularly at risk from the violence, which causes physical injury and long-lasting trauma, the report says.

“Our investigation finds longstanding, unconstitutional, unlawful and dangerous conditions that jeopardize the lives and well-being of the people held there,” Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general for civil rights, said at a news conference in Atlanta.

The report resulted from a federal investigation launched in July 2023 to examine living conditions, access to medical and mental health care, use of excessive force by staff, and conditions that may give rise to violence between people held in jails in the county, which includes most of Atlanta.

Federal authorities cited the September 2022 death of 35-year-old Lashawn Thompson in a bedbug-infested cell in the Fulton County Jail’s psychiatric wing, noting that an independent autopsy conducted at his family’s request found that he died of severe neglect. Photos released by attorneys for Thompson’s family showed that his body was covered in insects and that his cell was filthy and full of garbage.

Two other people in the same mental health unit died in the weeks following Thompson's death. Both were killed by their cellmates and found with their feet bound, the report states.

“We cannot turn a blind eye to the inhumane, violent and hazardous conditions that people are subjected to inside the Fulton County Jail,” Clarke said. “Detention in the Fulton County Jail has amounted to a death sentence for dozens of people who have been murdered or who've died as a result of the atrocious conditions inside the facility.”

Assaults and stabbings with “shanks” are “a feature of life" at the jail, the report states, noting that there were 1,054 assaults and 314 stabbings in 2023. In some cases, officers have allowed or initiated the violence, and many attacks go unreported or are not properly documented.

Fulton County Sheriff Pat Labat, who took office in 2021 and was reelected last week, has consistently raised concerns about overcrowding, dilapidated infrastructure and staffing shortages at county lockups. He has pushed county leaders to build a new jail, which they have so far been unwilling to do.

The sheriff's office didn't immediately respond to an email seeking comment about the report's findings.

Although county leaders and the sheriff's office are aware of the violence and have publicly spoken out against it, “they have failed to take adequate action to address the crisis, and homicides, stabbings, and other violent acts continue at dangerous levels,” according to the report.

Clarke noted that the report provides basic remedial actions and said the Justice Department is ready to work with the county to address the problems identified.

“I'm hopeful at the end of the day that Fulton County can put in place the reforms, measures and best practices necessary so that it might stand as a model for other institutions across the country,” she said.

Ryan Buchanan, the U.S. attorney in Atlanta, said the problems affect a large percentage of people in county custody and noted that the rate of assaults at Fulton County Jail outpaces that in other major city jails by a nearly two-to-one ratio. An overwhelming majority of those in custody are in pretrial detention and have not been convicted of a crime.

“The most obvious casualties of the civil rights violations occurring in the jail are those who leave the jail in body bags,” he told reporters. “But our investigation has revealed hundreds more injured, traumatized and dehumanized people, all of whom are just as deserving of the protections of the Constitution as all of us in this room.”

The “crisis of violence” in the Fulton County Jail is due in part to a lack of an effective classification system. resulting in a extremely violent people and gang members being housed with vulnerable and low-risk people, he said.

Jail officers “have a pattern or practice of using excessive force” against people in county custody, the report says. Officers do not receive adequate training and guidance on the use of force, they use Tasers too frequently and in “an unreasonable, unsafe manner,” and staff who use excessive force are not consistently disciplined, it states.

Fulton County has a main jail and three annexes, and investigators found that the main jail is hazardous and unsanitary, citing flooding from broken toilets and sinks, infestations of cockroaches and rodents, and filthy cells with dangerous exposed wires. There isn't enough food for detainees and the distribution services are unsanitary, the report says. That leaves detainees exposed to pest infestation, malnourishment and other harms, investigators contend.

People held in Fulton County custody receive inadequate medical and mental health care in violation of their constitutional rights, leaving them open to risk of injury, serious illness, pain and suffering, mental health decline and death, the report states.

People with serious mental illness are routinely held in restrictive housing that exposes them to risk of serious harm, including self-injury, physical decline and acute mental illness, the report says.

The jurisdiction of the juvenile justice system in Georgia ends at age 16, so 17-year-olds are housed in county jails. They are held in restrictive housing with little time outside of their cells, leaving them susceptible to the onset of mental illness, depression and an increased risk of suicide, the report says.

Included in the report are 11 pages of “minimum remedial measures” that jail officials should implement. It ends with a warning that federal authorities could take legal action if concerns are not sufficiently addressed.

A Georgia state Senate committee formed last year to examine jail conditions in Fulton County concluded in August that county officials needed to do more to work together to address problems at the jail. It also called on the city of Atlanta to hand over all of its former jail to the county to house prisoners.

FILE - The Fulton County Jail is shown, April 11, 2023, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Kate Brumback, File)