Can any team convince Paul George to join them?
By Kevin Yeung
After percolating in the rumor mill for a while, we can now officially connect the dots between Paul George and the Lakers. According to The Vertical, George is leaving the Pacers and “prefers” the Lakers. Most likely, the 2017–18 season will just be intermediary, a middle stage between location and destination. What’s left to find out is if this is all just going to be predetermined fate or if somebody can actually do something about it.
The Lakers are in control here — if they want, they can sit back for a year and take inventory, seeing for themselves which players are worth keeping around in a Paul George era. This informs their decision with the second overall pick, too. They can still go for the best player available and try their hand at a dynamic perimeter group of George, Lonzo Ball and D’Angelo Russell. A two-point guard look, with one holding immense upside as a scorer and the other as a passer and both interchangeable with the other, paired with a premier wing who can do everything.
Nothing comes promised yet, but the Lakers have the luxury of time. They still have to figure out how to unload themselves of at least one of Luol Deng, Timofey Mozgov or Jordan Clarkson, and they’d most likely want to dump at least the first two. They can do this over the next year while measuring up Julius Randle, Brandon Ingram, Larry Nance and Ivica Zubac, more of the high-upside young types that the last few years have yielded. Can George co-exist on a team with two budding power forwards or would you rather play him next to a big wing like Josh Jackson? These are the questions that the Lakers get to ask themselves. They’re good questions.
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It’s in this time, before George makes his move to Los Angeles, that other teams can try to swipe him for themselves. If George is really set on a homecoming, then none of it’s going to matter. It’ll be worth a try for other teams anyway, even if only as a rental, because the possibilities are always interesting when you’re talking about a top-10 player.
The Cavaliers, for example, have a pretty good reason to go for it. The Warriors necessitate risk-taking and George could be the ultimate reward, like if you could rewind to the original What If and put an impossibly fulfilled version of Andrew Wiggins back on the Cavaliers. Show George what the Finals are like, especially under circumstances where he’s the primary defender on Kevin Durant and forcing somebody like Klay Thompson away from Kyrie Irving on the other end, and dare him to leave after that. Really, LeBron James is the best sales pitch.
Who else wants to get involved? The Celtics might sniff around, as they do. Danny Ainge could be thinking any of a million things with his war chest, most of which probably don’t involve cashing in yet, and he might sit out a one-year rental of George like he’s sitting out Markelle Fultz. The Nuggets were interested in George at the trade deadline, apparently without any reassurances of him staying, but a good Nikola Jokic team is something we all deserve. Likewise, the Pelicans should make a move here. As I like to say: When you have talent, always bet on more talent. (I don’t say this.)
Most likely, this is all to Indiana’s loss. They know George is leaving, which in theory means they can operate with clarity at an earlier stage, except now they’ve lost all leverage. If the Lakers are at any point actually worried by some other team’s pitch to George, they can swoop in and force other teams out of the bidding, probably with a relatively painless offer — like, say, Clarkson and Nance. That’s the difference between the Lakers and everybody else. They know, in the deepest and most secure part of their Laker mind, that George is bound for their team one way or another. That gives them a degree of control over how this all transpires, a thoroughly disgusting thought.
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Is that any fun? If George joins up with Russell and Ball, and that group grows into everything it could be, then it’ll be pretty fun. No point in writing off the 2017–18 season as one between places, though. Some rascal team should take the plunge and try to convince George of themselves. Where the Lakers are weakest is the fact that they still kind of suck, and isn’t that the whole reason that George, 27-years-old and playing for the right now, is leaving the Pacers? Make something interesting happen! I will never forgive the NBA if the 26-win Lakers are still able to get your superstar.