Since entering the league, All-Star forward Paul George has developed into one of the two-way best players.
Prior to this season, all of his playing years were spent with the Indiana Pacers after he was selected with the 10th overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft. However, Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic revealed on Friday afternoon that the Pacers had nearly traded George to the Minnesota Timberwolves before then-general manager David Kahn turned down the deal in exchange for Jonny Flynn.
A year after the Wolves chose Ricky Rubio and Flynn and passed on Curry, another tantalizing possibility was sitting right in their lap before the 2010 draft. The Indiana Pacers were interested in Flynn, who was coming off of a solid if unspectacular rookie season with the Wolves.
Several trade scenarios were discussed, and league sources told The Athletic that Indiana made an offer of the No. 10 overall pick to Minnesota for Flynn. Several executives in the Wolves organization were ready to pull the trigger on the deal with Fresno State swingman Paul George as the player targeted with that pick.
The deal was brought to Kahn, who shot it down, according to sources.
At the time of the proposed deal, Flynn was coming off a productive rookie campaign where he averaged 13.5 points and 4.4 assists in 81 games. However, he had struggled to show that he could be a franchise-changing player that Kahn and the Timberwolves had hoped to get at the sixth overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft.
Although Paul George was an unproven talent at that point, it had become quite clear that Flynn wasn't the player that was expected and moving him would have been the better option at that point in time. Kahn had already been catching flack for passing up on Stephen Curry, who was taken with the next pick in the 2009 draft.
It would have changed the course of both the Pacers and Timberwolves as George has developed into a premier talent that is a bonafide scorer and elite defender. Instead, this can be chalked up as being a “what if” scenario that only provides another example of the head-scratching decision-making that David Kahn continually made at the helm of the front office with the Timberwolves.
Follow Us
Subscribe