Report: Rockets could aggressively pursue Paul George

Just for the record, PG can't get the supermax from OKC. He could only get that from the Pacers. OKC can give him the 5th year. BUT....he can also get the 5th year from another team if he "opts in" and trades to that team, (versus signing outright as a FA and getting 4 years).

 

Jazz’s Donovan Mitchell plans to recruit All-Star forward Paul George in free agency

 

#Nightlife

 

Utah doesn't need to spend big $$$ on PG. Ingles is a good fit at SF. They need to trade Favors for a more athletic shooting PF and a reliable scorer off the bench. Let Donovan continue to develop into a star instead of making him defer to PG.

EDIT: Just realized Favors is a FA. Should have got something for him at the deadline.

 

'Paul George, Russell Westbrook Continuing Bond In Offseason'

The Oklahoma City Thunder remain confident in their odds of re-signing Paul George this offseason.

"I think there's a lot of positivity around it, and I think even around Paul George, there's a sense he feels like he's in a good place in Oklahoma City. But things change," said Shams Charania. "There's different dominoes that's going to change over these next few weeks. LeBron James is probably the biggest domino that's going to drop. Until the league gets a hold of what his aspirations are, Paul George can very well decide to stay in Oklahoma City and not wait for what LeBron James is going to do."

Charania also suggests George will likely have a conversation with James at some point this offseason before reaching a decision.

But George has also developed a strong relationship with Russell Westbrook.

"Paul George has become really close to Russell Westbrook and I think that's a relationship that you can't quantify. I think that means a lot for the Thunder franchise. They might be bonding better than Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook did during Kevin Durant's free agency. They're spending a lot of time just, you know, doing what friends do. That could go a long way for Oklahoma City as it goes into July 1."​

 

Pretty sure they shopped him and didn't get anything meaningful in offers.

 

For those wondering about OKC's motivation to do a deal with Houston, here's a Thunder blog making a pretty strong case for it.

In essence, it comes down to this- if Houston is willing to throw in Eric Gordon, OKC should jump at the chance to get a valuable player back rather than losing one of their superstars for nothing.

https://www.welcometoloudcity.com/2018/6/8/17439818/paul-george-sign-and-trade-possibilities-2018

 

I think the Melo situation becomes a bigger part of this and the lack of cap space to get Russ any help. Also I think Russ turns off a lot of potential teammates. OKC is stuck in that cycle of having to make lateral trades just to stay relevant.