That's a very risky strategy for the Lakers. Paul George to the Lakers through free agency is not some kind of forgone conclusion. - If the Pacers don't trade him this season and he end up playing like the 2nd half of this season, there's a very good chance he can still become eligible for the designated player extension supermax. Is the prospect of playing for a still rebuilding Lakers that appealing that he's willing to give up on a supermax extension? - If he get traded to a contender. I seriously doubt he'll be willing to give that up and jump ship to a struggling Lakers in the off season. It's been forever since an all-NBA caliber player have expressed any kind of interested in signing with the Lakers as a free agent. If they miss out this opportunity, that's a huge set back for their franchise.
This might be a good moment also cause the Celtics should be all in for Hayward, we could take advantage of that too...is it possible to have George and Harden meet and talk about it in this period?
Did this really destroy any leverage for the Pacers though? Even if he kept this behind the scenes, whatever team interested in trading for him would find out about his interest in joining the Lakers & reluctance in signing an extension anyways
"The Pacers’ inability to maintain a contending roster has played a part in George’s belief that he has a better chance for championship contention by joining the Lakers, league sources " LMAOOOOOOO
Yup. That's the best strategy for Indy right now. Talk with Cavs. Leak left and right every hour that the talks are on going and progressing and that they are about to trade love for him. Put pressure on the Lakers. As much as he wants to go play in LA after a year of having played next to Lebron and likely going to the finals let's see if he doesnt' resign. To raise his value you have to show legitimate demand at this point. Maybe Ainge will want to play tricks to raise the price on purpose for the Lakers and get involved as well. The more teams involved the higher the price.
Yo Exactly. Gotta force the issue with the Lakers. Leak interest from multiple contenders willing to "risk" convincing him to resign. Cleveland Boston Toronto Houston Washington etc. Honestly I do think Cleveland and Houston are for sure willing to risk it and are engaged in talks currently. I don't think Cleveland offers love tho I think they want to add and get to 4 star level players. But just mentioning the possibility of love raises the bar.
I bet they don't even give up Love or Kyrie to do it. "Sorry Prickard, i can't do Kyrie or Love for Paul George, but i can do Tristan Thompson and a future 2nd round pick." - LeGM "I can't believe this! We would have taken Channing Frye! Ha! Tristan Thompson and Myles Turner front line is going to dominate! See you in the Conference Finals LeBron and Paul!" - typical idiot GM's these days I know this is all just to get the Lakers to bite, but it's just not funny anymore b/c we've seen these things before with the Grizzlies just handing over Gasol to the Lakers(and dont bother mentioning Marc bc no one knew he'd be anything other than a serviceable big. He was a throw in lol..Grizz just got lucky or maybe Jerry West is just THAT good.)
He told them this last year before deadline, they had chances to move him earlier for a bigger return
Without Love as part of the package, PG ain't going to Cleveland. No way the Pacers burden themselves with TT's onerous contract. Pritchard is very creative. He'll tell Dan Gilbert to go soak his head if the Cavs play hardball and quickly trade PG to another contender. You may be mistaken on which team is more desperate for a deal between the Cavs and Pacers. If the Cavs don't do something legit to improve, they can probably kiss LeBron goodbye in 2018. Flipping Love for PG is probably their only big chance. You guys can blame Larry Bird (not Pritchard) for not trading PG at the deadline. That was a franchise-altering blunder.
I think this is great for the Pacers timing wise. They leaked this just before the draft and should get some big offers
Can the Morey get into the action? Eric Gordon (Indiana native & college star), Capela and Dekker + future 1st round pick(s)?
It is too much I dont see morey paying that price Same trade without Capella maybe We can trade Capela. His salay help us in this offseason + we dont have a replace for him.
I see Gordon as a good starter for them, they would need some scoring, he's also on a good contract and he's from there too...one future first (if we're not able to get one in this draft by trading Anderson, Lou etc...) and Dekker...shouldn't be bad as a package...not sure if they would like Anderson or not, should be a good fit with Turner but the contract...
