Nate Taylor: Paul George intends to finish his contract with the Pacers

The Paul George rumor mill continues to work overtime, but Nate Taylor of the Indy Star reports that such rumors may be baseless.

According to a report from the Indianapolis Star’s Nate Taylor, Paul George expects to finish next season as an Indiana Pacer.

What this means essentially is that the Pacers front office either has no concrete plans to trade George at the moment, something that Zach Lowe mentioned on his podcast last week, or that they do and they’re keeping those plans very close to the vest.

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Feasible trade scenarios for the Pacers star have been steadily decreasing over the last few months. After the trade deadline in February, it seemed quite likely that a team like the Celtics or the Lakers would cash in a few young assets to get George on their roster as quickly as possible. Now, however, the Celtics seem more interested in keeping their premium picks and weathering the Golden State storm, and the Lakers are confident that they can sign George outright in the summer of 2018.

Nate Taylor also reported that Paul George and new Pacers president Kevin Pritchard had dinner shortly after Pritchard’s promotion. George said that he was happy with Pritchard’s promotion and that the two of them are on the same page.

This report doesn’t necessarily mean that George is any more likely to sign an extension with the Pacers or remain on the team beyond the summer of 2018. Both of those possibilities remain as likely as they were this morning, which is to say, we have no idea. As far as we can tell, the current plan seems to be putting together a roster that will convince George to sign another contract with the Pacers. The specifics of such a plan remain difficult to dream up.

Next: Would Paul George tip the scales for the Cavs?

Another day, another report, another night where we still know next to nothing.