The Indiana Pacers were dangling Paul George like trade bait for much of the offseason and could have gotten plenty of great trades, but ended up sending him to the Oklahoma City Thunder to partner him with Russell Westbrook. In return, they got Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis. Most would call that trade lopsided, but the Thunder are putting their chips on PG13 and hoping he doesn’t skate out of town to Los Angeles after next season.
Even before they packaged him to OKC, it seems like the Pacers had other ideas, tempting the Golden State Warriors to take him in exchange for Klay Thompson.
According to the Adrian Wojnarowski podcast:
Indiana offered you to Golden State for Klay Thompson. Golden State said no, talks didn’t go anywhere. Were you aware that conversation happened?
Paul George: I think that would have been the Chris Paul to LA situation. Where they denied that trade. Yeah, I was aware of it. I would have looked forward to it.
It makes sense why the Warriors would turn down that trade, but it’s funny to see the Pacers aim so high on a trade. Would George make the Warriors better? Probably so, but him and Thompson play slightly different positions. Klay always guards the best opposing guards as one of the best two-way players in the game, while PG13 (a pretty good defender) takes on the wings. They already have Kevin Durant doing that.
Plus they would have to max George out after next season in free agency, compared to Thompson, who is still on a very cap friendly deal for the next two seasons.
But who wouldn’t want to go to Golden State and win a championship or two with the dynasty?
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