2018 NBA free agency grades: Oklahoma City Thunder will retain Paul George

In a midnight free agency stunner, Paul George has resisted the urge to head home to L.A. and agreed to re-sign with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Let’s grade the deal.

All season long it appeared a mere formality that Paul George would head to the Los Angeles Lakers this summer. As it turns out, Sam Presti, Russell Westbrook and the Oklahoma City Thunder had other ideas and have plucked the proverbial ace from their sleeve to reach an agreement in principle to retain their man for 2018-19.

Earlier in the day, ESPN‘s Royce Young revealed that Westbrook was hosting a party in OKC and Paul George was attending. From that moment on, the signing appeared a mere formality as we waited for the inevitable “Woj Bomb” to detonate.

The corks were being popped as the news broke in OKC, with Young tweeting that Paul George had already addressed what was sure to be a jubilant party crowd.

ESPN‘s Adrian Wojnarowski reported the deal will be for four years and $137 million, with a player option for the fourth year.

In analyzing the on-court ramifications of the news, we now must re-insert the Thunder back into the Western Conference contention discussion. With PG-13 returning to OKC, the battle for power in the hunt for the Golden State Warriors’ crown continues to gain momentum.

In what was undoubtedly a disappointing first season for the Westbrook-George duo, the pressure relief valve will now be lifted significantly, with free agency no longer casting a dark shadow over the team.

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George averaged 21.9 points per game in 2017-18, his lowest mark since 2015. He also saw a drop in field goal attempts from the same time frame with the Indiana Pacers. Unsurprisingly, attempting to mesh Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony and George together conjured some headaches that will still need to be addressed.

There were growing pains, questions over his involvement in the offense, and queries on his ability to buy into a team he was thought to be walking away from on July 1.

Despite all those doubts, George had a terrific season, receiving All-NBA Third Team honors and a fifth All-Star selection. His two-way prowess holds him in the very highest of company league-wide. George is a legit superstar in the modern NBA, and at just 28 years old, will remain firmly in his prime for the duration of his new deal.

Fans in L.A. chanted, “WE WANT PAUL” at every given opportunity throughout the last 12 months, but it was all for naught as George heard those chants and politely declined the opportunity to have them repeated on a nightly basis.

The Thunder now stand to face a luxury tax bill that will reach levels never before seen in the NBA, as outlined in the tweet below by ESPN cap expert Bobby Marks. That really is inconsequential at this point though; they got their man.

This is unquestionably a coup of enormous proportions for OKC, which will now put to bed the belief that Westbrook is not the type of player superstar players want to ride beside. Losing George would have been disastrous for the franchise’s hopes moving forward. Instead, they now get to spend the summer figuring out how to re-launch their assault on Kevin Durant and the Warriors.

As for the party, I’m guessing they partied long and hard until the sun came up in OKC.

Next: 2018 NBA free agency tracker: Grades for every deal so far

Grade: A+