Wow.... Just wow.
Sam Presti, the Oklahoma City Thunder general manager, came out of nowhere and surprised us all with the news that he traded Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis to the Indiana Pacers for Paul George, a top 15 player in the NBA. We were all expecting Paul to be traded to a team like the Celtics, Cavaliers, Rockets, or the Lakers. Sam Presti showed how underrated of a GM he is with this move. This move makes the Western conference very, very interesting, and the Eastern Conference about as competitive as an 8 year old YMCA basketball league.
The Thunder absolutely stole Paul George from the Pacers. He averaged 23.7 PPG, 3.3 APG, 6.6 RPG, and 1.6 steals per game. He brings back the catch and shoot skill that Kevin Durant provided them. You could actually consider this an upgrade of sorts from Kevin Durant; Paul George was 43.6% with 7.4 PPG on catch and shoot situations last season, while Kevin Durant was 43.9% on catch and shoot situations from his last season with the Thunder with 5.8 PPG. He brings some solid defense to the Thunder, with 1.6 steals per game, which is 14th in the league and 3rd among all forwards in the league. He provides more spacing now that Russell Westbrook isn't the defenses main (and probably only) focus.
I'm very interested to see how Russell and Paul coincide on this team. Russell ranked 1st in the entire league in Usage Percentage last season, with 40.8%. Granted he didn't have many options last year, with their best player being Victor Oladipo, his Usage Percentage was 31.6 during the last year of Kevin Durant's stint with OKC, which would be 10th in the league last season. Now that he has an MVP award and averaged a triple double last season, it will be very intriguing to see how he makes adjustments to include Paul George on the offensive end, now that he's not the only choice. This could make Russell feel more "at ease". Last season he literally (and statistically) carried his team to the playoffs. Whenever he sits during games, the Thunder usually always lose their lead and are one of the worst offenses in the league. Now that he has a top 15 player in the NBA on his team, he will be a lot less worried when he sits, knowing he at least has another player who is used to carrying a team.
Sam Presti took a pretty big risk trading for Paul George. George has made it public that he wants to be a Los Angeles Laker, going as far as telling the Indiana Pacers that he will play the rest of this season out, but will be opting into free agency the next season and "prefers" that he plays for the Lakers. That means this year could possibly just be a rental of George and then he's off for the Lakers next season. But if Russell Westbrook and the crew can show Paul that he can win if he stays, I believe that he will stay. It would make no sense for him leave a team with a ton of championship potential for a team that either has a slight chance of cracking the 8th seed or ending up in the lottery, unless Lonzo Ball lives up to his hype or they pay him an insane amount of money (which they could). I love how the Western Conference isn't backing down to the standard that the Warriors set; they're recruiting and teaming up and making moves left and right to try to take down the juggernaut.
Sam Presti, the Oklahoma City Thunder general manager, came out of nowhere and surprised us all with the news that he traded Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis to the Indiana Pacers for Paul George, a top 15 player in the NBA. We were all expecting Paul to be traded to a team like the Celtics, Cavaliers, Rockets, or the Lakers. Sam Presti showed how underrated of a GM he is with this move. This move makes the Western conference very, very interesting, and the Eastern Conference about as competitive as an 8 year old YMCA basketball league.
The Thunder absolutely stole Paul George from the Pacers. He averaged 23.7 PPG, 3.3 APG, 6.6 RPG, and 1.6 steals per game. He brings back the catch and shoot skill that Kevin Durant provided them. You could actually consider this an upgrade of sorts from Kevin Durant; Paul George was 43.6% with 7.4 PPG on catch and shoot situations last season, while Kevin Durant was 43.9% on catch and shoot situations from his last season with the Thunder with 5.8 PPG. He brings some solid defense to the Thunder, with 1.6 steals per game, which is 14th in the league and 3rd among all forwards in the league. He provides more spacing now that Russell Westbrook isn't the defenses main (and probably only) focus.
I'm very interested to see how Russell and Paul coincide on this team. Russell ranked 1st in the entire league in Usage Percentage last season, with 40.8%. Granted he didn't have many options last year, with their best player being Victor Oladipo, his Usage Percentage was 31.6 during the last year of Kevin Durant's stint with OKC, which would be 10th in the league last season. Now that he has an MVP award and averaged a triple double last season, it will be very intriguing to see how he makes adjustments to include Paul George on the offensive end, now that he's not the only choice. This could make Russell feel more "at ease". Last season he literally (and statistically) carried his team to the playoffs. Whenever he sits during games, the Thunder usually always lose their lead and are one of the worst offenses in the league. Now that he has a top 15 player in the NBA on his team, he will be a lot less worried when he sits, knowing he at least has another player who is used to carrying a team.
Sam Presti took a pretty big risk trading for Paul George. George has made it public that he wants to be a Los Angeles Laker, going as far as telling the Indiana Pacers that he will play the rest of this season out, but will be opting into free agency the next season and "prefers" that he plays for the Lakers. That means this year could possibly just be a rental of George and then he's off for the Lakers next season. But if Russell Westbrook and the crew can show Paul that he can win if he stays, I believe that he will stay. It would make no sense for him leave a team with a ton of championship potential for a team that either has a slight chance of cracking the 8th seed or ending up in the lottery, unless Lonzo Ball lives up to his hype or they pay him an insane amount of money (which they could). I love how the Western Conference isn't backing down to the standard that the Warriors set; they're recruiting and teaming up and making moves left and right to try to take down the juggernaut.
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