A Paul George trade is as inevitable as it has been for weeks. However, recent news around the league have hinted at a certain sequence of events.
It isn’t a secret anymore that Paul George will be traded. In fact, its pretty obvious. The political cartoon in the Indy Star featured a Paul George Lakers uniform. Every reporter you follow on Twitter has heard “something” about his/her team making a call on Paul George. Every trade-machine-using blogger has made it known what they think the trade is going to look like.
That is not what this post is going to focus on.
I could use strong diction and knowledge of the NBA to tell you what a three-team PG trade would look like. That is not what this is about. This isn’t about the return the Pacers could get for Paul George or the team’s efforts to find a suitor for him. This article isn’t about a potential rumor and what it could mean for the future of the Pacers and PG. In fact, this is not about the Pacers much at all.
This is about the culmination of events that are increasing the likelihood of Paul George landing in a very specific location.
Boston. This may sound boring – almost expected. Your favorite writer, or maybe a radio host you admire, may have already told you of this possibility. It makes sense after all, the Celtics are one good player away from being in the top tier of NBA teams.
But, the Cavaliers want Paul George too. So do the Lakers. So do the Wizards. So does every team in the league. He is Paul George, after all.
But recently, all the signs are pointing distantly from those teams, and all at Boston.
A Woj report was released today suggesting the Celtics are gearing up for a run at Gordon Hayward and Paul George. But, a Woj report was just the icing on the cake for this saga. To really begin the pot-stirring, we need to look somewhere else for insight into the PG-to-Boston odyssey.
That’s right, Minnesota. The announcement from Marc Stein just yesterday that the always available Ricky Rubio is once again available was the first domino in the Celtics-PG saga. What does Ricky Rubio have to do with anything? Originally, nothing. But then a multitude of reports surfaced of a team having interest in acquiring Rubio. What was that team?
This is where the story picks up traction. Why would Utah want Ricky Rubio? Won’t they just bring back George Hill and Hayward and run it back with their 51-win team? Well, the Jazz would want Ricky Rubio if they expect they are going to lose George Hill.
It might seem we have drifted away from Paul George, but bear with me. A George Hill departure would be the writing on the wall in Utah. George Hill is a free agent, sure, but every NBA fan knows Utah has bigger fish to fry. Gordon Hayward is a free agent too. Utah will of course want to re-sign him — and why wouldn’t they? He just made the All-Star team and has the chance to be the best Jazz player in almost two decades.
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However, Gordon Hayward is a smart guy and he wants to win basketball games. If George Hill leaves (and is either replaced with Rubio or someone worse) why would Hayward want to go back to a worse team? He is in entering the prime of his career, and there would be plenty of better teams competing for his services than the point guard-less (or Rubio-led) Utah Jazz.
The competing has already begun. Many teams are angling themselves to have a chance at Gordon Hayward, including the potential PG suitors in Boston. All this, and not a peep from Utah. Not one “we will do whatever it takes to keep Gordon”. More of the reporting coming from Utah suggests he is “torn” about staying or leaving.
Actions speak louder than words. If Utah thought that Hayward was coming back, they would be making “win now” moves. Instead, they are looking to trade for a cheap starting point guard in Ricky Rubio, and they traded (Indiana high school star) Trey Lyles to move up in the draft and get a good young player (who plays the same position as Hayward!). This series of moves suggests the Jazz are entering a faux-rebuilding state. Why would they do this? Because they think George Hill and Gordon Hayward are leaving in free agency.
And that is why the Woj report today was so meaningful and impactful for the Pacers. When a report from Adrian Wojnarowski comes out, the discussions ramp up about whether or not the rumor he is reporting is a possibility. This time, it seems like an inevitability.
Why else would the Pacers have waited on a trade? They could have traded for draft picks on draft night and gotten young players that they wanted. Instead, they likely agreed to terms of a trade with Boston that would happen later, likely after the Celtics sign a star. Specifically, Gordon Hayward.
So, a super team in Boston that has Hayward and every draft pick from now until 2030. That is the perfect team to trade for Paul George. All the dominoes are falling in a way that more than suggests, but almost implies, that PG in a Celtics green uniform will happen.
So there it is. The story of events, from Ricky Rubio’s availability to a draft night trade trade involving Trey Lyles, that make it seem clear that Boston and Indiana will have a trade early in free agency. Could this all be a coincidence? Sure. Is it likely? No. With the dominoes all falling, it’s only a matter of time before the culmination of events all come to fruition.
Next: 5 point guards the Pacers could target in free agency
And it ends with Paul George in Boston.