The biggest winners and losers of 2017 NBA free agency

Winner: Oklahoma City Thunder

How the Oklahoma City Thunder swooped in for Paul George over superior potential offers from the Boston Celtics or Los Angeles Lakers, the world will never know. But for some reason, new Pacers general manager Kevin Pritchard thought Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis were enough compensation for one of the best two-way players in the league.

Now, to be fair, OKC isn’t out of the woods just yet. Remember, the Thunder could never win a title with Russell Westbrook, the reigning MVP, and Kevin Durant, the second-best player in the world and reigning Finals MVP. A slight downgrade from KD to PG-13 means Oklahoma City remains on the outside looking in among the bonafide title contenders.

It’s also worth noting that George could very well be a one-year rental — a fact made worse by Russell Westbrook also being a possible departure next summer if he doesn’t accept OKC’s contract extension. But between the Paul George heist, signing Patrick Patterson to the best bargain deal of the summer, retaining Andre Roberson for a fair price and adding Raymond Felton, this was an excellent bounce-back summer for Sam Presti.

Loser: Indiana Pacers

People initially laughed at Danny Ainge and the Celtics for not putting all those assets to use on a star, but it was the Indiana Pacers that screwed the proverbial pooch by trading a top-15 player for nothing more than Oladipo and Sabonis.

Unlike the Bulls, at least the Pacers got a quality player who isn’t coming off a season-ending injury (Oladipo). Unfortunately, their return wasn’t that better overall, even if Sabonis winds up becoming a quality NBA player entering his second season.

Maybe Oladipo will finally have the breakout year we’ve been waiting for. Maybe Sabonis reaches his ceiling as a capable stretch-4. But even in those best-case scenarios, and even with their backs up against the wall, the Pacers still didn’t get enough of a return or even a blue chip prospect for their franchise star. What’s worse is after years of failing to put an adequate team around PG-13, Indiana has no one to blame but itself.