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The Pacers dodged a bullet with Paul George

By Adrian Lawhorn

INDIANAPOLIS, IN - APRIL 23: Paul George #13 and Myles Turner #33 of the Indiana Pacers react in the second half of Game Four of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals during the 2017 NBA Playoffs against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on April 23, 2017 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Cavaliers defeated the Pacers 106-102 to sweep the series 4-0. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using the photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
INDIANAPOLIS, IN - APRIL 23: Paul George #13 and Myles Turner #33 of the Indiana Pacers react in the second half of Game Four of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals during the 2017 NBA Playoffs against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on April 23, 2017 in Indianapolis, Indiana. The Cavaliers defeated the Pacers 106-102 to sweep the series 4-0. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using the photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Getty Images) /
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The NBA world was stunned and Indiana Pacers fans are outraged by the Paul George trade, but the Pacers are actually fortunate that things ended up this way.

The Indiana Pacers were pulled into a sports soap opera the moment Paul George‘s agent informed the team that George had no intention of staying in Indiana once he could opt out of his contract in 2018.

Kevin Pritchard immediately went into damage control mode, trying to make the best of a very difficult situation.

Pritchard tried to create a robust trade market for George, but George’s stated preference to play for the Los Angeles Lakers made that task impossible.

Ultimately, the Pacers agreed to send Paul George to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for shooting guard Victor Oladipo and power forward Domantas Sabonis.

The deal that was made has garnered almost universal disdain. Most felt that Indiana didn’t get nearly enough for George, particularly when there were rumored offers from the Boston Celtics and Cleveland Cavaliers that were much stronger.

We don’t know what offers were actually on the table for Paul George, but this is the one that Kevin Pritchard chose to make.

We are not here to debate the wisdom of the trade itself, but rather to look at the way this entire scenario unfolded and point out that this could have gone much worse for the Pacers — you might even say they were lucky.

Let’s go back for moment to when the league announced the All-NBA teams for 2016-17.

It seemed to be a given that the best thing for Indiana would be for Paul George to make one of the three All-NBA teams so he could become eligible for a so-called “supermax” contract extension.

When the All-NBA teams were announced, Paul George’s name was nowhere to be found.

Disappointment reigned among the Pacers franchise and fanbase, as the team “missed out” on its opportunity to offer George a five-year deal worth in excess of $200 million.

Had Paul George been named to an All-NBA team, what likely would have happened next?

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Indiana is a small market team with a limited budget, but they most certainly would have been compelled to put a supermax contract in front of George had they been allowed to do so by the NBA.

There is no way to know for sure what George’s response would have been, but it isn’t a stretch to think he would’ve had a hard time turning down a supermax extension from the Pacers.

The contract would have been worth about $75 million more than the maximum any other team would have been able to pay him under NBA guidelines.

Additionally, George could have had that deal immediately had he made All-NBA; he would have had to wait a year to get an offer from another club (and that offer would have been worth much less).

Had the offer of a supermax extension been made and accepted, nearly everyone in Pacers Nation would have been rejoicing. It would have been a great thing, right?

Wrong.

Had things played out this way, the Pacers would have kept their All-Star forward, but perhaps not known that his true desire was to play elsewhere, for the Los Angeles Lakers specifically.

George would have been locked up contractually for years to come, but his heart would not have been fully in it.

Under these circumstances, he would have taken the deal because it was simply too much money to leave on the table, not because he was completely committed to the Indiana Pacers.

In time, this most certainly would have come to light, and the results would have been very ugly.

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Indiana would have mortgaged their franchise to give Paul George the moon and the stars, and they would have eventually realized that George had a wandering eye — no matter how much money the Pacers had thrown at him.

The other part of this equation is more straight-forward: would Paul George have been worth more than $40 million per season?

Absolutely not.

Super-max contracts are for true superstars who make the players around them better, and have the ability to carry their teams and will them to victory.

There are a handful of NBA superstars who fit the mold of a supermax player, but Paul George is not one of them.

George is a terrific player, a legitimate NBA All-Star. However, he has not shown the ability to be the type of player who can lead a team to new heights simply by his individual influence on and off the court.

Next: 2017 NBA free agency tracker - Grades for every deal so far

Perhaps dealing Paul George for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis was far from ideal, but had the Pacers signed George to a supermax contract extension, the results might have been even worse.

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