Paul George coming to the Los Angeles Lakers in free agency was believed to be a lock as recently as just a few months months ago. Fast forward to the start of free agency and George has committed to re-signing with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
He did so without even taking a meeting with the Lakers or any other team. It came as something of a shock that George didn’t even meet with his hometown team, but he clearly had his mind made up.
As it turns out, this was apparently the case for a while now. According to Ramona Shelburne of ESPN, George informed the Thunder in the early going that he was likely to re-sign:
Paul George told the Thunder he was staying “early” so they could set everything up, per sources. In other words, they’ve been operating like he was staying for a bit now.
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) July 1, 2018
This simply goes to show that just because it has been reported that a player is set on signing with the Lakers, things can change over time. From the moment the Thunder traded for George, they have been working to show him that they are the franchise for him and it worked.
The fact that he didn’t even take a meeting shows how committed he was to the Thunder. There was no doubt in his mind that he wanted to remain in Oklahoma City, and now that is happening.
The Lakers have to move on to their other targets such as LeBron James, DeMarcus Cousins, and Kawhi Leonard, but the early story at the outset of free agency is how quickly things changed in the case of George.
Up until the past couple of days, he was long considered a lock to make a triumphant return to Southern California with the city’s glamor franchise.
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