Pritchard urges patience, but says Paul George trade could still happen anytime
In a press conference after Thursday night’s draft, Pacers president Kevin Pritchard was asked about Paul George and why a trade hasn’t been made yet.
In his first public comments since the Woj bomb that publicly revealed Paul George’s intentions in the summer of 2018, Pacers president Kevin Pritchard gave the impression that he wasn’t looking to rush into a George trade just for the sake of making a deal.
Pritchard’s comments came at the conclusion of Thursday’s draft, which many had assumed to be more or less of a deadline for a blockbuster deal like this one.
Pritchard addressed those such assumptions:
"Everybody thought (Thursday) was a trigger date because draft picks were involved, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do things into the future – future draft picks, players today, young players, older and established players,” Pritchard said. “We’re keeping everything on the board. There’s so much other stuff that doesn’t include draft picks that we decided to stay put and look at everything that’s on the board in the future. We’re not going to make a bad deal. We want to get what we want and that’s what we pursue."
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The holistic approach that Pritchard is describing certainly has its benefits. The draft-night Jimmy Butler trade should definitely serve as a cautionary tale for the Pacers against rushing into a crappy deal just to wash your hands of everything.
However, it’s hard to see how George can stay on the roster much longer, given everything that has now been aired in public. Pritchard was clearly taken aback and frustrated when the George news broke. “For me it was a gut punch. It was a total gut punch, because we had many conversations over the summer about players that we’d like to add, a little bit of style that we’d like to play,” Pritchard said.
It’s possible that Pritchard is waiting to see what happens to big time players like Gordon Hayward in free agency. Thanks to the most recent cap estimate being a couple million dollars lower than we thought it would be, the Boston Assets will have a much harder time opening up two max-salary slots. They could still make it happen if push came to shove, but it would involve dumping either Avery Bradley’s or Marcus Smart’s salary. Things are difficult enough to maybe be influencing the trade talks.
Next: Spurs, Wolves and Blazers all interested in Paul George
It could be a tense couple of weeks, with the future of the franchise hanging in the balance. Rest those Twitter-refreshing thumbs, everybody.