The Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers are reportedly finalizing a trade for Paul George. The Thunder will send Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis in return for Paul George.
This trade would end a months-long saga that culminated in a wild week leading up to the draft.
The rumors began during the week of the trade deadline when reports began to leak that George was “hell-bent” on becoming a Laker. The Lakers and Pacers engaged briefly in trade talks at the time, but George’s camp reportedly advised the Lakers not to ship away parts of the young core because George would be coming to L.A. regardless.
The rumor mill died down prior to this week, but all hell broke loose on Sunday when George informed the Pacers he’d be leaving the team and preferred a move to the Lakers. Since then, the Lakers have honed in on the Pacers and have been in negotiations for much of the week.
Depending on what point you joined the rumor mill on the week, the Lakers were either “highly likely” to deal George or a trade between was “no longer imminent.”
In the midst of it all, the Lakers traded young guard D’Angelo Russell along with Timofey Mozgov to the Brooklyn Nets for Brook Lopez and the 27th pick, helping clear cap space for the summer of 2018 to chase a superstar along with George.
Last season, George had a career year, averaging 23.7 points, 6.6 rebounds and 3.3 assists on 39.3 percent three-point shooting and 46.1 percent field goal shooting.
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