Indiana Pacers superstar, Paul George has just been traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis according to Sam Amick of ESPN.
Breaking: Pacers trade Paul George to Thunder for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis, per @ramonashelburne and @sam_amick pic.twitter.com/JsRRt1ih6k
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) July 1, 2017
There has been a lot of talk surrounding Paul and where he will end up in this years offseason via a trade, but teams such as Cleveland, Houston, Los Angeles and Boston were getting all the limelight.
In a surprising turn of events, the OKC Thunder now own the young and athletic superstar, and could become one of the best teams in the Western Conference this season.
Cavs missed their chance
The Cleveland Cavaliers were in hot pursuit of acquiring Paul George during this years offseason after coming off a 4-1 defeat to the Golden State Warriors in the 2017 NBA Finals. After initially targeting Jimmy Butler, who was then traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves, Cleveland jumped at the idea of adding 4-time all star, who would help them with defense and athleticism.
The Cavaliers fired multiple trade options at the Indiana Pacers, those including big names such as Kyrie Irving and Kevin Love in return for PG13.
They also almost came to a deal with the addition of the Denver Nuggets in a 3-team trade where the Cavs would've landed George. But the Indiana Pacers did not go through with that deal, although the Cavaliers and Nuggets were in heavy agreement on it. So with all the talk of Paul George being traded to the Cavaliers this offseason, it just didn't work out, and now he is headed to Oklahoma City in exchange for Oladipo and Sabonis, instead of Love, Irving or the role players Cleveland offered up.
Dynamic duo?
The Oklahoma City Thunder may have lost in the first round of the 2017 NBA playoffs to the James Harden led Houston Rockets, but they still had a spectacular season. This spectacular season was mainly due to the brilliance of 2017 NBA MVP, Russell Westbrook. He averaged a triple double throughout the whole 82-game season, and even averaged a triple double in his short playoff run.
He broke many scoring, and triple double records, including Oscar Robertson's 41 TD's in a season.
With the level of play Westbrook was playing at with his squad, we can now only imagine how brilliant this OKC team can be with the addition of 27-year old, young, long and athletic, Paul George. They could easily become one of if not the best duo in the entire league, and could be looking at making a longer playoff run this season. The top dog's of the West such as the Warriors, Rockets and Spurs may be hard to challenge, but I would never count out a duo of Russ and PG13.
