Dan Gilbert thinks Pacers could have done better with Paul George trade

Dan Gilbert didn’t get Paul George this offseason and he thinks the Pacers didn’t make out all that well in their deal.

All-Star Paul George was a focal point of this NBA offseason, as it was widely known that he was on the trading block of the Indiana Pacers. On the evening before the first day of NBA Free Agency, George was in fact dealt, as the Pacers shipped him off to team up with Russell Westbrook on the Oklahoma City Thunder, creating quite the duo there in the loaded Western Conference. In exchange, Indiana acquired guard Victor Oladipo and forward Domantas Sabonis.

When fans saw the terms of the deal, they felt as if the Pacers didn’t make out all that well in just gaining Oladipo and Sabonis. Many felt they could have gotten much more, maybe from the Cleveland Cavaliers, perhaps?

Speaking of the Cavaliers, it seems as if team owner Dan Gilbert is one of those people who believe Indiana could have made out much better on the deal. He even said as much on Wednesday as he took part in the introductory press conference for his new general manager, Koby Altman.

As you’ll remember, when the George trade talks started, it was heavily rumored the Cavaliers were one of the teams in on potentially gaining his services, bringing him in to see if he could give them a boost against the Golden State Warriors. We even learned recently that the Cavaliers, in fact, were very close to striking a deal with the Pacers for George before it all went downhill and he landed with the Thunder.

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So this could very well be sour grapes on the part of Gilbert — who we know can be salty about some things here and there — or he just genuinely didn’t like the deal, like a lot of others. History tells us that it’s probably the former.