Knowing that Paul George will leave in free agency next summer, it’s time for the Indiana Pacers to trade him. Here are five teams that could put a deal together.
The Paul George trade rumors are swirling, and an era has all but come to an end for the Indiana Pacers.
After months of speculation and leaked reports about the All-Star forward’s interest in signing with his hometown Los Angeles Lakers upon hitting free agency in 2018, that growing fear became official Sunday afternoon.
According to The Vertical‘s Adrian Wojnarowski, PG-13 has informed the team through his agent that following the 2017-18 NBA season, he will opt out of the final year of his contract to become a free agent, at which point in time he will leave the franchise — most likely for the Lakers.
While George informing general manager Kevin Pritchard of this impending decision gives the Pacers a chance to brace for the future, it also limits the team’s ability to get much value for him on the trade market.
Non-contenders won’t sacrifice significant assets if they fear he’ll only be a one-year rental, and the return will be significantly lower than his true value with the threat of the Lakers looming in free agency.
However, at this point the Pacers will have to take what they can get on the trade market, which is what Woj reports they will do as the team is aggressively seeking out a deal. The question is, which teams might be interested in a possible one-year rental, and what kind of return can Indiana realistically expect?
Believe it or not, there are a few contenders that would make sense as potential Paul George trade suitors, especially if they believe they can turn a successful playoff run into a long-term free agency extension.
If I'm a good team with excess assets I'd target George. Then maybe after a year he falls in love and stays. Not many of those teams though. https://t.co/lcoPdi2BnC
— Kevin O'Connor (@KevinOConnorNBA) June 18, 2017
PG-13 averaged a career-high 23.7 points, 6.6 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game on .461/.393/.898 shooting splits this year, and his status as one of the game’s elite two-way players is well known. Bearing all that in mind, here’s a look at five possible Paul George trades.
Honorable Mention:
Toronto Raptors — It’s a nice idea, but their best offer of something like Jonas Valanciunas, Cory Joseph and Norman Powell would be giving up too much from Toronto’s perspective. A core of Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, Paul George and Serge Ibaka might be enough to get past LeBron James in the East, but there’s still a lot of uncertainty with Lowry and Ibaka being free agents. One failed playoff run, even with that core intact, would send PG-13 out west, and from Indiana’s perspective, that trade package doesn’t really help with a full-scale rebuild outside of Powell.