NBA Free Agency Watch: Paul George Is Staying In OKC

Hot Seat: Magic Johnson

It was long speculated the second George ended up in OKC that it was only a matter of time before he ended up in LA. He so much as said he wanted to be a Laker and that’s why he got traded in the first place. But when it came time to actually make the decision, he chose Russell Westbrook over Magic Johnson and the unkown Lakers. At least for the time being. George staying in OKC is gigantic news for a couple reasons. First, it gives the Thunder another chance to make up for what was a relatively disappointing 2017-18 season. They took a chance when they brought George in, trusting that their culture and talent would keep him around and ultimately Sam Presti bet right.

What this also does is now put even more pressure on the Lakers to up their offer for Kawhi Leonard. Part of me thinks Lebron always knew George was out, so maybe the pairing is going to be Boogie/Lebron with Kawhi potentially coming this year or next. We haven’t seen the numbers or the specifics of the George extension, but if I had to guess it’d be a 2+1 at most. Remember, we saw him and his agent go through all the options in that ESPN special

He talked about winning a title being the most important thing, and he’s convinced as of right now that his best chance is in OKC. An interesting showing of loyalty to a team he doesn’t have to be loyal to. Maybe this is just delaying what might happen at the end of this new deal, but there will not be a Lebron/PG13 pairing in LA next season which is certainly NOT something most of us expected when free agency first started.

So much for waiting until 12:01, the chaos has already begun