Paul George only has one year left on his contract to play for the Indiana Pacers, but that didn’t stop him from expressing his desire to play for the Los Angeles Lakers come free agency period in 2018, according to reports.
George apparently prefers to play for the Lakers over any other team in the NBA, and that’s a dream come true for the city of Los Angeles after ending the Kobe Bryant era.
Lakers have all the advantage
The Lakers have the leverage over this situation. To get George on their team, they don’t need to offer the Pacers anything of value because the Lakers know they can just wait until the 2018 free agency and let George come to them.
This puts the Pacers in a very tight spot.
Other NBA teams won’t be interested in offering their top talents in exchange for George because they already know he wants to play for a particular team. This means if the Pacers don’t get any offers soon, they are forced to play George for an entire season knowing he wants to play for somewhere else and that could be very awkward.
All throughout the season, George might be asked why he wants to leave Indiana and why he wants to play for the Lakers.
In this type of situation, it never ends well for both the player and the team, which is why it’s prudent for the Pacers to accept the highest possible value for George from other teams as soon as possible.
The Pacer’s other option
There is one other option for the Pacers can do, and that is to send out George as a rental. This is ideal for an NBA team that is willing to take a risk to be a title contender for at least one year. That team would have to give up one of its top players to get George for a whole season before he becomes a free agent the following year.
Paul George as a Laker
Over the years, there have been lots of rumors circulating that George wants to play for the Lakers but this might be the perfect time to do so.
The Lakers are still rebuilding and have no plans to make any significant moves this offseason when it comes to trading players. Instead, the Lakers plan to save some cap space for the 2018 free agency period; this is when George fits in.
George grew up in Northern Los Angeles and has always wanted to play for his hometown. With the Pacers having no sense of direction for the past seasons, this might be very well the best time for George to make changes and play for a team he actually wants to play for.
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