Paul George and OKC Thunder’s Los Angeles trip

Paul George to L.A. has been one of the hottest trade rumors in the NBA for a while now and a recent trip to LA may have sealed the deal for Paul George to play in the purple and gold next year.

The Oklahoma City Thunder were in Los Angeles for the past three days to play the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Clippers. Both games were wins and for Paul George it may have sealed the deal for him to play in L.A. next year.

George is a unrestricted free agent, which means he can sign with any team he wants and has a player option on his contract, which means he can choose to stay in OKC for one year on his 2018-19 salary, opt out and re-sign to stay with the Thunder, or leave to play with somebody else.

Most people think that he will leave and go and play in L.A., where he was raised. In the game against the Lakers, George hit a jump shot and went to go embrace his family, who were watching the game.

The numbers for Paul George on the L.A. trip reflected his play since Dec. 1:

Those numbers are only a small portion of why Paul George is going to be one of the most coveted free agents in 2018. George plays both sides of the ball at a high level.

He averaging 21 points a game and is third in the league with 115 3-pointers made this year, while also leading the league in steals per game with 2.4.

OKC is clicking right now and is 8-2 in its last 10 games. The Thunder have pushed to become the fifth seed in the Western Conference and are two games out of the fourth spot. With the recent success, they are just now seeing the rewards of having two superstars on their team to pair with the reigning MVP, Russell Westbrook.

George spoke with TNT’s David Aldridge after the Clippers game about how the last three days had been in Los Angeles:

"“It’s been great. It’s been great. All family and all love out here.“It’s good. It’s good. I’m here in the summer so it’s no difference. I’m home and I’m on the same schedule when I’m here. It’s good to have a change of pace being in Oklahoma. This is going to be always home. I got two great places to be.”"

If you ask me, I think he will leave, but I think that would be a big mistake. The West is crowded. George will be in L.A., which is already the worst team in the conference and the Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets and San Antonio Spurs are all juggernauts in the West.

You’ll have to include OKC to that list, who have Russell Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony.

Why move to a team that is that bad already in a powerhouse conference? Why rebuild everything back up when you are already on a superstar laced team?

The fact is, OKC is the better team right now and Paul George would have to pair up with another superstar if he wanted to win a championship in L.A. That is, if LeBron James is truly moving West to LA.

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To be fair, George did tell ESPN‘s Royce Young that’d it’d be “stupid” for him to leave if the Thunder are trending in the right direction.

At 11-26, the Lakers are the worst team in the Western Conference and the second-worst team in the league right now.

The pieces of Lonzo Ball and Brandon Ingram are assets that they can use to try and persuade George that this team is trying to build up to something, but George will be entering his eighth year in the league.

The Lakers will not even have a high first round draft pick because the Philadelphia 76ers or the Boston Celtics will own the rights to that pick.

LeBron James went to his first Finals in his fourth year in 2007. Kevin Durant went to his first Finals in his sixth year in the league. Russell Westbrook went to his first Finals his fifth year int he league. All players are MVPs in the league.

Paul George wants to be on that same MVP level. He will have to play in the Finals to be in the same bracket as those players, and right now his best option to get there will be to remain in OKC beyond this season.

Next: 2017-18 Week 12 NBA Power Rankings

Unfortunately, thanks to the juggernauts in the West and the allure of playing at home, it may all depend on who the Lakers can bring in to show George that this team can be better than OKC is right now.