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No, Paul George isn’t coming back to the Indiana Pacers

By Ben Gibson

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - DECEMBER 13: Paul George #13 of the Oklahoma City Thunder defends Victor Oladipo #4 of Indiana Pacers during the game at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on December 13, 2017 in Indianapolis, Indiana. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - DECEMBER 13: Paul George #13 of the Oklahoma City Thunder defends Victor Oladipo #4 of Indiana Pacers during the game at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on December 13, 2017 in Indianapolis, Indiana. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images) /
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Despite the Indiana Pacers potentially having some cap room, the idea of Paul George coming back to the Indiana Pacers is simply ludicrous.

Twitter is a great place for conversation. OK, not really, but occasionally when you aren’t getting trolled, it’s fun. Anyway, on Wednesday I got a tweet asking if Paul George could return to the Indiana Pacers.

I thought it was crazy. We all know he is going to Los Angeles to play with the Lakers, right?

Well, right when I thought it was just one person on Twitter asking a question they admitted was a bit crazy, I saw this headline from a reputable newspaper and writer: Paul George could sign with Indiana.

No, Barry Trammel of the Oklahoman, I respect you, but this was clearly a post under the vein of “This is possible, but not likely. At all.” We all have to hit our quotas, I guess.

There was a reason George wanted to leave Indiana outside of the Pacers struggling to break .500 in his final season. It isn’t the city Los Angeles, the city where PG grew up. He wanted to go back and it was an open secret at best. That cast a shadow over the locker room last season because everyone knew or ‘knew’ that he was ‘hell-bent‘ on playing for the Lakers. It’s why his agent awkwardly tried to force the trade last summer. He wants to play in Los Angeles.

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But let’s pretend like we don’t know that. Even then, it’s not really possible because of Indiana’s current salary cap situation.

Cory Joseph opted in on Wednesday and to create enough space to sign a player of George’s caliber, Indiana would be forced to waive Darren Collison, Bojan Bogdanovic, Lance Stephenson, and Al Jefferson by July 1st. If they did that, they would be missing two starters and a rotation player going into free agency.

And if Thaddeus Young opts in, there goes $14 million of cap room.

So more realistically, if they don’t release any of those players, they don’t really have any cap space left at this time. They can create space, sure, but it would require several moves to make it happen.

And that’s pretending like everything would be cool if he came back, and nothing would be weird after the way he left.

Sure, George said he would want to play with Oladipo if he could only play with one All-Star, but that doesn’t mean much. For better or for worse, George often seems to say what people want to hear. He can hint all he wants that he might stay in Oklahoma City, but if I were betting, I’d put my money on him leaving.

Next: Welcome to Indianapolis. Population: Basketball

Paul George is head to Los Angeles. And last time I looked at a map, LA isn’t in Indiana.

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