While the Indiana Pacers might have gotten a better return on the trade, you’re leaving out many obvious facts if you think they gave away Paul George.
Did the Indiana Pacers get the best-possible return in the Paul George trade?
Did the Indiana Pacers give away Paul George?
No.
Unless you didn’t notice all of Paul George’s overtures about heading to the Los Angeles Lakers eventually — and the possibility of outright tampering by Los Angeles — it is understandable to think that Indiana gave their franchise player away for just Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis.
That is what Kevin Durant said on The Bill Simmons podcast recently, and he isn’t the only one who believes that.
"“That was shocking because Indiana just gave him away. I ain’t think OKC would even think about giving up anything to trade for him. I didn’t think they would do it, but that was a ballsy move.”"
Maybe Durant was partying too much after winning the title and missed all that, but it was obvious the market for Paul George wasn’t as robust as it should have been. I get it is easy to pile on the Pacers right now, and in a lot of ways, rightly so, but this narrative of Kevin Pritchard giving away PG is flawed, to say the least.
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The NBA is currently investigating whether the Lakers tampered with Paul George, which should tell you that something was up with PG’s value around the NBA. The offers we saw for Paul George generally consisted of late first-round picks and decent to good rotation players, but hardly any one close to making an All-Star team. The entire NBA knows George is likely a one-year rental, and that was clear once his camp all but announced that as fact.
And these rumors weren’t exactly new. Remember the report in February that George was “hell-bent” on joining the Lakers?
I repeat: Paul George - barring a title chance in Indy - is hell-bent on heading for Laker Land. This message has been sent throughout NBA.
— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) February 23, 2017
Tampering or not, the Pacers didn’t have leverage when the time came to trade Paul George. The idea of him heading to Los Angeles was even a rumor — though not as expertly sourced —before he signed his contract extension in 2013. The dude wanted to play in his hometown, but he could have gone about it in a better way.
Perhaps Pritchard shouldn’t have been so hell-bent on getting PG out of the Eastern Conference or making a trade before free agency started this summer. A bigger mistake might have been the Pacers holding on to him at the trade deadline this season instead of seeing the writing on the wall and making a move then.
Those are legitimate criticisms.
But I don’t think any trade for George — save Danny Ainge and the Boston Celtics considering an all-in push once they signed Gordon Hayward — was likely to get a top 10 pick in next year’s draft. Player-wise, Gary Harris might have been the best player offered, but it doesn’t appear Indiana was getting an All-Star level player in return from anyone.
The only other option Indiana had was holding on to him until this season’s trade deadline, but unless you wanted the NBA equivalent of a Superfund site, that wasn’t a realistic plan.
Indiana made mistakes this offseason, as well as the last few summers, but they weren’t negotiating from a position of power or even a neutral position when trading George. Everyone knows where Paul George is going next season unless somehow he and Russell Westbrook upset the Golden State Warriors. Even then, PG still could end up in Los Angeles.
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The Pacers didn’t get the best deal for Paul George. But they didn’t give him away, either.