When the Indiana Pacers traded Paul George to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis, many experts felt that the Pacers didn't get an equal trade for the worth of George. Now, it appears that there was a better trade being offered that never happened and makes some wonder about the quality of the Indiana trade at all. According to ESPN, the Golden State Warriors were talking to the Pacers about acquiring George in exchange for All-Star Klay Thompson.
What caused this NBA trade to fall through
When asked about the Golden State Warriors trade possibility, Paul George joked that he didn't think that the trade would fly with the NBA.
It doesn't take long to remember that the NBA vetoed a trade that would have sent Chris Paul from the New Orleans Hornets to the Los Angeles Lakers. Because the NBA denied the trade, Paul instead went to the Los Angeles Clippers and the Lakers became one of the worst teams in the NBA.
There is already a lot of complaints about Kevin Durant joining the Golden State Warriors, who already had the talent to make it to back-to-back NBA Finals, winning one of them. Adding Durant just made the team obscenely better despite the fact they were already the best team in the NBA.
While Paul George believes that the NBA would have killed the trade, it would have been a decent even swap. The Golden State Warriors would have sent Klay Thompson to Indiana for Paul George.
That seems a lot more even than the Oklahoma City Thunder trade ended up being.
In 2016-17, Klay Thompson averaged 22.3 points, 2.1 assists, and 3.7 rebounds a game. Paul George averaged 23.7 points, 3.3 assists, and 6.6 rebounds a game. Of course, Kevin Durant is also a small forward so the team would have to play with two small forwards if they made the trade.
On the other hand, Victor Oladipo averaged 15.9 points, 2.6 assists, and 4.3 rebounds a game. Domantas Sabonis averaged 5.9 points and 3.6 rebounds per game.
The future of the Pacers
What resulted is that the Oklahoma City Thunder will get Paul George for one season. George has said that if the Thunder make it to the Western Conference Finals or beats the Golden State Warriors, he might be willing to stay in Oklahoma City with Russell Westbrook and try to win a title there instead of opting out next year.
Paul George said he would leave the Indiana Pacers regardless next season because he said the Pacers were not building a team that could win a title. Klay Thompson is under a four-year, $68.9 million contract that would pay him $17.8 million this season and $18.9 million next season.
However, Victor Oladipo is signed through 2021 with a four-year, $85 million deal. Domantas Sabonis is also signed through 2020 for a very reasonable deal that has club options in 2018 and 2019. They aren't the talent of Klay Thompson, but they are two young players the Pacers can possibly build around.
