Paul George’s exit opened the door for a new era of the Indiana Pacers

It would have been great to keep Paul George, but at least his exit opened the door to a new era of Indiana Pacers, and one with a bright future.

I’m not here to police anyone’s (nontoxic) fandom. It’s perfectly fine to boo the hell out of Paul George today when the Oklahoma City Thunder visit the Indiana Pacers.

While the majority of Pacers fan moved on from constantly referencing the former face of the franchise, obviously some are still hurt by the way he left Indiana. And that’s fine. Nothing wrong with cheering against him whether you are bitter or not about his final days with the Pacers.

It’s OK to appreciate where his career has gone since leaving Indiana, too.

I’m happy that he is reached a peak in his career where he is now. When he broke his leg four years ago, you wondered if he would ever return to 100 percent of his former self. It’s pretty clear now he leveled up since pairing with Russell Westbrook.

After averaging 23.7 in his final season with the Pacers and then dipping slightly his first season in Oklahoma City, PG is averaging a career-high 28.1 points. Again, it helps when you’re paired with an MVP player like Russell Westbrook. PG is a serious contender for MVP.

He finally got a game-winner, too. Though as I wrote when he was still in Indiana, sure, George was 0 of 14 with the Pacers on those sort of shots, but he often won games before then, too.

He did a lot of great things with the Pacers when they went to back-to-back Eastern Conference Finals and were this close to knocking off LeBron James. The dunks, the big shots, the defensive stops, they were all great.

C’mon, you LOVED when he dunked over Birdman.

It’s unfortunate how things ended in Indiana. Between the trade request that summer and the fact the idea of it lingered over the team all year, that team three seasons ago didn’t reach it’s potential. George was ready to check out.

But neither he or the Pacers would be where they are now if nothing changed. Both parties got a necessary reset.

Two ships passing, one without an anchor

The problem with having a player as good as Paul George is you’re going to be competitive every season. Indiana was rarely going to draft high enough to get a franchise-altering star. And with Larry Bird missing on several roster moves, you can’t exactly blame George for questioning if Indiana would be able to pair him with another star.

And that’s what he got with the Thunder. Westbrook is Michael Jordan to PG’s Scottie Pippen. If you think that’s an insult, you don’t understand basketball enough then.

So George got his wingman, and what did the Pacers get out of the trade?

They got a star player that wants to play here and a potential Sixth Man of the Year. They also were able to reconstruct things on the fly in a way that would have been a harder sell if George stayed.

Victor Oladipo is the perfect face of the franchise of the Pacers, and Domantas Sabonis is both a fan-favorite and essential part of Indiana’s success.

Not only does Oladipo have the skills to be an All-Star, but he’s got a certain charisma that makes him perfect for guiding Indiana into its new era.

George isn’t a leader in the way a guy like Oladipo is. That’s not an insult either. Leadership is a special skill that not everyone has. Even though Oladipo isn’t as good as PG is as a player, Oladipo’s leadership is a big reason why these teams since his arrival have exceeded expectations. PG doesn’t need to lead huddles or anything to be a great player, nor does Victor, but it’s great that Oladipo has the right personality for leading a team.

If the trade doesn’t happen and Indiana merely rode out the end of George’s contract (or even found a way to keep him), Indiana wouldn’t have a player like that.

If he was happy to stay in Indiana, of course, it would have been great to keep George. But that simply wasn’t the case. Chance had to happen. It worked out for both sides as much as any trading away an unhappy superstar can. It was an All-Star for an All-Star (and another potential one.)

The Pacers have a bright future despite Victor Oladipo’s injury

Once George left, Kevin Pritchard was all but given the blessing to tear down the Pacers.

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Yes, Oladipo and Sabonis weren’t nobodies, but there was a reason why both Bojan Bogdanovic and Darren Collison were signed to two-year deals that had team options for the second year. They were both signed as starters and expect to play, but the Pacers had the chance to clear things out for cap-space if they needed to.

Since George left, there’s been a near-complete turnover of the roster.

If the status quo had been maintained even as PG was still a Pacer, that sort of rebuild might not have been possible. They could have been stuck in a cycle where they never could justify a plan that allowed them even the possibility of an overhaul.

The only holdovers from the last era are Myles Turner and Thaddeus Young. The team got younger and it turned out the same moves Indiana made to change their future course worked out to make them competitive now.

Again, the smart thing Pritchard did was give the Pacers an out if the team didn’t mesh together. Things worked out better than most expected in the last two seasons when you saw the roster on paper.

If Oladipo hadn’t gone down with his knee injury, then the Indiana Pacers still would be considered a real threat to do damage in the playoffs this season. It’s just bad luck you couldn’t plan for, not a failure of team building.

But more importantly then the outcome of this season, they’ve cleared out cap space for the upcoming summer to make the moves they believe are needed. It’s certainly interesting to see what’s next for Indiana.

They’ve got a solid core of players — Oladipo, Turner, Sabonis, Aaron Holiday, Doug McDermott, T.J Leaf, Alize Johnson, and Edmond Sumner — under contract even if they let everyone else walk off into free agency. That’s not the worst place to be in with a massive amount of money to spend this summer.