Hoops Habit
Fansided

Oklahoma City Thunder: Why Paul George is going to stay

By Justin Curran

CLEVELAND, OH - JANUARY 20: Paul George
CLEVELAND, OH - JANUARY 20: Paul George /
facebooktwitterreddit

There’s been a lot of speculation surrounding where Paul George is going to end up this upcoming offseason. Here’s why he’s going to stay with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Before Paul George informed Indiana Pacers management that he’d be leaving in 2018 free agency, the thought was that he was going to join the Los Angeles Lakers.

The thinking behind that was, he’s from L.A., the Lakers have a young core and they’re probably going to have LeBron James, too. Which helps, I guess.

But then the unexpected happened: George was sent to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis. At the time, the trade was viewed as completely lopsided in favor of the Thunder.

Now that we’re more than halfway into this season, we can see that it has been a pretty even trade. There might even be a slight advantage to the Pacers.

Anyway, the Thunder seem to finally be off the runway after a rocky start. The Russell Westbrook-Paul George-Carmelo Anthony trio is building chemistry by the game.

The thing is, this offseason is Paul George’s big chance to cash out. He’s going to be in his age-28 season next year, so he’s in his prime. Since he’s no longer on the team that drafted him, he isn’t eligible for the super-max deal.  The Thunder are the team that can pay him the most money, but that doesn’t mean they will.

With that being said, there are a few reasons I think PG-13 is going to stay in OKC.

First of all, the Thunder have won eight out of their past nine games and they’re quickly moving up the Western Conference standings.

Now I’ll be the first one to admit I was skeptical of how the team would operate together. Russell Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony and Paul George are all ball-dominant players.

Live Feed

4 Trae Young trades the Hawks should consider
4 Trae Young trades the Hawks should consider /

FanSided

  • 3 worst starters of the OKC Thunder rebuild eraThunderous Intentions
  • Patrick Mahomes tabs former OKC Thunder star as his favorite playerThunderous Intentions
  • Bleacher Reports top 100 list shows why OKC Thunder are primed for breakoutThunderous Intentions
  • 3 Thunder Players Entering a 'Make or Break' SeasonThunderous Intentions
  • Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has golden chance in QuarterfinalsThunderous Intentions

    • What you saw at the beginning of the season was that they were struggling with that fact. You don’t want a guy like Russell Westbrook to be too selfish, but you’ve got to let him be who he is.

    Carmelo Anthony has been a textbook definition scorer his entire career. There isn’t anybody who you put on his team that’s going to change that.

    Then there’s Paul George. He was the star of the Pacers when he was on the team. The only problem was, the Pacers weren’t good enough to reach the Finals.

    When you take a guy like George and you pair him with two superstars, you’d think that you’d see a downtick in numbers. That hasn’t really been the case though.

    George is currently averaging 21.3 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game. That’s only one and a half fewer points than less season. To go along with that, George also has 5.7 win shares this year, according to Basketball Reference.

    The main point here is that Paul George has found his role with the Thunder and he’s excelling.

    On the flip side, everybody thought it was a lock that George would end up in L.A. next season.  Instead of trading for him and getting him while they could, the Lakers sat on their hands and just hoped he wouldn’t go anywhere else.

    At this point, I’d be shocked if he was a Laker this time next year. I’d be shocked if he were anywhere else for that matter.

    The Thunder are a team that I think is going to make a run in the playoffs this year. I’m not just catering to my audience either, I truly believe that.

    Now am I saying that they’re going to beat the Warriors? Probably not. However, they’re one of the handful of teams around the league that has a shot of taking them deep in a seven-game series.

    Another factor here that shouldn’t be understated is that we’re talking about the Thunder. They’ve let Kevin Durant and James Harden leave and go prosper elsewhere.

    What does that have to do with anything? I feel like it’s safe to say the team doesn’t want to let another superstar walk. Not a great message to send to the fans.

    Does that mean that he’ll get a max deal? Yeah, that’s exactly what that means. With Andre Roberson going down, PG-13 is really proving his worth.

    Next: 2017-18 Week 16 NBA Power Rankings

    In conclusion, it’s clear that Paul George is a key member of the Thunder and I don’t think he’s going anywhere anything soon.

    Home/Oklahoma City Thunder