In the months leading up to the Indiana Pacers‘ trade of All-Star forward Paul George to the Oklahoma City Thunder a week ago, there was plenty of rumors floating around about possible trade scenarios.
Pacers general manager Kevin Pritchard has finally addressed the situation by stating that a vast majority of the chatter was untrue and overblown, according to Scott Agness of Vigilant Sports.
Pritchard: “Paul was not staying beyond this year. There was no chance. … At the end of the day, he really wanted to be with another team.“
— Scott Agness (@ScottAgness) July 7, 2017
Kevin Pritchard laughed when asked about reported trade offers. Said “maybe five percent” were true.
— Scott Agness (@ScottAgness) July 7, 2017
The only thing that Pritchard has confirmed is that George had his mind set on leaving the team next offseason in free agency, which put forth a more concerted effort move him from the organization. It was only a matter of time before a deal was going to get worked out this summer.
There were likely many other offers on the table, but Pritchard chose to send him to a place where the haul in return wasn't the greatest with eyes geared towards just getting George off their hands. The Pacers likely won't admit this trade was worked in order to keep him away from both the Cleveland Cavaliers and Los Angeles Lakers, but what they received in return for the 27-year-old shows otherwise.
Even if many of the reported offers presented to Indiana were simply not true, it's fair to assume that they could have received a much bigger haul for George.
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