The NBA has announced the list of players that made it to this year's All-NBA teams. It's the list of top 15 players of the season. This season, taking in consideration new CBA stipulations, making or not making any of the All-NBA teams could have major effects on potential contract extensions of the players involved.
LeBron James and James Harden lead the way in All-NBA first team, while Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry are the top stars on the second team. Third team All-NBA this season includes the likes of John Wall and Draymond Green amongst others.
What's interesting on these lists is that Indiana Pacers' star Paul George didn't make it.
Is George on his way out?
Paul George was the 10th pick back in 2010 draft, drafted by the Indiana Pacers. He is in his seventh year in the league now, and he's had some good runs with the Pacers over the past few years. George averaged a career-high 23.7 points in the 2016/17 season for the Pacers while playing 75 games.
Indiana was swept in the first round of this year's playoffs by the Cleveland Cavaliers, but Paul did show up averaging 28 points, 8.8 rebounds and 7.3 assists in the series. He is currently in the third year of his 5-year contract worth 91 million dollars with the Pacers. George will have a player option for the 2018/19 season, and after that, he will be unrestricted free-agent.
If George had made it to one of the three All-NBA teams this season, he would've qualified for the new Designated Player Extension. This designation would have allowed his current team – the Indiana Pacers, to offer him the richest contract in NBA history that would've added up to five years and about $210 million to his contract.
This would also mean that Indiana could basically offer him $75 million more than any other team in the NBA. It's hard to think George would've left the Pacers with that amount of money on the table.
This new CBA stipulation is also known as the "Kevin Durant rule" since it was made and brought into the system following Kevin Durant's departure from Oklahoma City Thunder to the Golden State Warriors in 2016.
What's next for the Pacers and George?
Indiana can still offer an extension to George in the summer of 2017, but he will not have as much financial motivation as he would have had he made it to one of the All-NBA teams. There are many speculations around the NBA in regards to George leaving the Pacers and maybe joining the Los Angeles Lakers.
He spoke several times about how he grew up as a Kobe Bryant and an LA Lakers fan, and expressed an interest in joining the Lakers at some point in his career. Several other teams made trade offers for George earlier this season with Atlanta Hawks being one of them as they offered four first-round picks in exchange for him. Maybe the time has come for the Pacers and George to move on? We'll see.
