Trade rumors involving the Indiana Pacers and star forward Paul George have been heating up over the last couple of days. After informing the Pacers of his intentions to leave the franchise next summer in free agency with a preference to join the Los Angeles Lakers, Indiana has been the most active team in trade talks looking to deal George for a return instead of letting him walk away for nothing in free agency. The Lakers and Cleveland Cavaliers have reportedly been the most involved in talks, but L.A. is refusing to include the No. 2 overall pick or last year's No. 2 overall pick Brandon Ingram in any deal for George, while the Pacers are said to be disinterested in taking on the remaining three years on Cavs' forward Kevin Love‘s five year deal signed in the 2015 offseason.
According to Nate Taylor of Indy Star, a trade that was expected with near-certainty to happen before Thursday night's NBA Draft is now no longer imminent.
“The Pacers, according to multiple league sources, are considering multiple trade offers for George, but the team doesn’t feel pressure to get a deal done by Thursday.
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With the draft approaching, the Pacers, according to sources, are optimistic that other teams’ offers for George will become more enticing Thursday afternoon before the draft that night. Pritchard wants to receive the most compensation possible in exchange for George, but the All-Star’s value throughout the league, especially with his known desire to join the Lakers, is limited since he’s likely to only spend one season with his new team.
Those factors, according to a source, could lead the Pacers into taking offers throughout the summer, and potentially into training camp, to complete a deal. If a trade is agreed upon, George plans to play out his contract and become free agent next summer.”
The Lakers just completed a huge salary dump deal by trading away Timofey Mozgov‘s horrible contract to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for Brook Lopez and the 27th pick in Thursday's draft, but L.A. also had to part with a young star in the making in D'Angelo Russell, who management was said not to think too highly of. One would think that if the Lakers were dangling Russell on the market, the Pacers would've found a way to acquire the young talent in a trade for George. Indiana, however, wanted nothing to do with the abhorrent contracts of both Mozgov (4-year, $64 million) and Luol Deng (4-year, $72 million). The Lakers did offer a package of the 27th pick, the 28th pick, and either Julius Randle or Jordan Clarkson in exchange for Paul George, but the Pacers reportedly scoffed at the deal.
Indiana might not be a lock to trade George anytime before the NBA Draft as they very well could just be testing out the now-diminished market for George. However, every passing day that the Pacers don't trade George adds more pressure on their front office to get a deal done and lowers the odds of the team getting any valuable pieces bin exchange for him.
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