With the Oklahoma City Thunder bowing out to the Utah Jazz in six games, star forward Paul George is expected to forego the final $20 million of his contract and opt out to become an unrestricted free agent. Whether he re-signs with the Thunder or goes to another team is still up in the air although financially, he could make more money staying since the Thunder could offer him a max deal up to $177 million over five years while other teams could only go four years, $132 million at best.
Still, that's not deterring others from preparing packages and welcoming parties to meet with George once free agency moratorium commences on midnight of July 1. After all, we've seen numerous free agents uproot and ignore the extra year (and money) – with the Celtics' Gordon Hayward being the most recent example.
One team that's expected to go all in are the Los Angeles Lakers – and if ESPN NBA insider Bobby Marks is to be trusted, he is probably bolting for Hollywood.
“You would probably put your money on Paul George.”
– @BobbyMarks42 on who is most likely to come to LA
— ESPN Los Angeles (@ESPNLosAngeles) May 4, 2018
Despite the Lakers historically being tied to every potential big name free agent under the sun, their “relationship” with the Los Angeles native has been legitimate bordering on controversial.
It started with the Lakers president of basketball operations Magic Johnson appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in April last year to make light of tampering with George, and was subsequently warned by the NBA for it.
This was then followed months later by the Indiana Pacers formally issuing tampering charges and was later proven to be correct (Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka was the culprit), with the Purple and Gold being fined $500,000 for the move. George shortly announced his intention to not re-sign with the Pacers and led to his trade to the Thunder.
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