NBA Trade Rumors: Paul George wants to play for Lakers?

Indiana Pacers small forward Paul George wants to do one of two things: win a title with the Pacers or go play for his hometown Los Angeles Lakers.

The Indiana Pacers have felt out the trade market for four-time All-Star small forward Paul George. He is the type of player organizations can build an NBA Championship team around. However, he has become increasingly frustrated with the Pacers’ inability to contend for championships.

While there have been rumors that George will opt to leave Indianapolis in 2018 free agency anyway, USA TODAY Sports’ Sam Amick drops a bombshell about George’s intentions for basketball the next two seasons. George either wants to win a championship with the Pacers or he wants to go play for his hometown Los Angeles Lakers.

All this does for Indiana is hurt their bargaining power for a trade involving George. If he is going to sign with the Lakers in unrestricted free agency in summer 2018, that hurts George’s perceived trade value. If George is forcing the Pacers to trade him to only the Lakers, well, he’s doing a great job at that.

The best thing that the Pacers can do at this time is to probably build a championship contender around George. Frankly, isn’t that why Indiana went out and got Jeff Teague, Thaddeus Young, and Al Jefferson this offseason?

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Opting to fire former head coach Frank Vogel and promote Nate McMillan was thought to improve the offensive pace in Indiana. That could have been done to appease George in an effort to get him to stay in Indianapolis. However, unless Pacers team president Larry Bird can get George more championship talent in the next year, George seems destined to sign with the Lakers in summer 2018.