The Los Angeles Lakers are known to have an interest in acquiring Indiana Pacers star forward Paul George, but it won’t be easy. As appealing as it is to bring George back home to Los Angeles, he is under contract for at least one more year, and apparently, the Pacers aren’t ready to make a deal just yet.
With George likely to decline the final year of his contract next summer and enter free agency, the thought had been the Indiana might try to cut their losses and trade him rather than risk him walking away and receiving nothing in return.
However, according to Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report, Indiana is currently treating George trade offers as a non-starter:
Talking to folks around the league, the Pacers have not yet solicited offers/trade talks for Paul George. https://t.co/PG2VvdRUKd
— Eric Pincus (@EricPincus) June 6, 2017
They're not entertaining George conversations – it's a non-starter currently.
— Eric Pincus (@EricPincus) June 6, 2017
Of course, for the Lakers and just about every other NBA team, the question is whether or not they would be willing to part with any major assets now knowing that George could walk away next summer.
For some teams, getting George in-house would be worth it, especially if they assurances that he would be likely to sign with them. For others, the risk may simply be too much. The Lakers found themselves in a similar situation when they traded for Dwight Howard in 2012, parting with assets only to see Howard flee to Houston the following summer.
With George rumored to be very interested in signing with the Lakers in free agency, they may be best served by hanging onto their assets and waiting until the summer of 2018. Should they go that route, the best scenario would be for George to stay in Indiana and for the team to struggle, so the news that the Pacers aren’t accepting trade offers at this time could be very good news for the Lakers.
