Make no mistake, Oklahoma City’s one mission this season is to convince Paul George to remain with the Thunder once he hits free agency next summer. But what, Erik Horne of The Oklahoman asks, does the All-Star forward want?
George and his representation have been nothing if not forthright about the 27-year-old’s desire to sign with the Lakers in the summer of 2018 but he still has a season under contract and a fresh, new change of scenery to enjoy with the Thunder until that time comes.
If George truly wants to play for a winner, the Thunder have a legitimate chance of positioning themselves as the better option than the Lakers, Horne writes. Oklahoma City has, after all, been competitive for the past five years while the Lakers have toiled in mediocrity.
The question is whether playing for a winner will ever actually trump George’s desire to return to his home state.
There’s more from the Northwest Division:
- The move to sign Patrick Patterson will help the Thunder on the defensive end, the forward’s former coach Kevin McHale told The Oklahoman. He says Patterson is the type of player that excels at all the little parts of the game.
- With Gordon Hayward on his way to the Celtics, it’s become clear that Rudy Gobert may have been the leader of the Jazz all along, Brad Rock of The Deseret News writes. The big man has long been more charismatic and vocal than his Beantown-bound counterpart.
- The move that sent Avery Bradley from the Celtics to the Pistons has all but extinguished any hopes the Jazz had of pulling off a sign-and-trade connected to Gordon Hayward’s move to Boston, Jody Genessey of The Deseret News writes.
- The Timberwolves saw an opportunity and seized it this offseason, bringing Jeff Teague into the fold at the expense of long-time point guard Ricky Rubio. “Ricky did a good job here; we’re happy for him,” Wolves coach Tom Thibodeau told the media, including Jerry Zgoda of The Star Tribune. “We wish him well. He made a number of contributions to our team, our organization and community and we certainly appreciate that. For us where we are now, we have to get out of this hole and we felt we had an opportunity to improve our team, and that’s why we did what we did.”
- An additional benefit the Timberwolves will enjoy after bringing Jimmy Butler aboard will be his contributions as a recruiter, Vincent Goodwill of CSN Chicago writes.
- No team in the NBA shot worse when wide open beyond the arc than the Thunder did last season, that should change after the club welcomes Paul George and Patrick Patterson to its lineup, Brett Dawson of The Oklahoman writes.
Ball is a bust lol, if George wants to contend for titles just play with the MVP Russ and you’ll get one PG. Expecting big things from Alex Abrines at the 2 next season.
Yeah, Ball’s performance in NBA regular season games has been… uh…
How is a dude a bust without playing an NBA game? This is why you get made fun of even when you aren’t on here.
and thats when he logs on to his other accounts to agree with his own statements
Hey bro i defended him 1 time cause you guys were bullying in no way do i agree with his statement here lol
“Ball is a bust” after 2 summer games. Jumping the gun much.
go to the lakers page on here, go under lonzo pic the other day look at dionis say ball is their building block. dionis has to be from the Philippines, no American thinks this way towards the NBA. flip flops daily on his opinions
So what if I flip flop opinions? I thought he was nice but I don’t see a superstar in the guy. Will he be a great point guard? Yea maybe, will be transcendent? Highly doubt it.
your opinions hold as much weight as wet toilet paper when you continuously flip flop opinions. where are you from?
Bricks will never get close to a championship again and PGs going to leave after next year. No star wants to play with an inefficient stat padder
Lonzo is not a bust and Russ just wants to get triple doubles and PG will get mad but Abrines will be good probably be like JJ Reddick
Russ simply had no help and no one to pass to who could actually score aside from Kanter last season. PG could catch passes in the post and Russ could get him the ball at the top of the key when he drives and kicks. They also got Patterson as a stretch big so I think OKC will be a ton to deal with, Westbrook is the Jordan of the NBA right now.
Russ will do that for the 1st maybe 3 games then when he’s sees his stats down go back to how he’s played his whole career
Westbrook will never win a title until he’s an old 6th man.
I hope PG does go to LA and sticks to his word.. if he doesn’t then he looks like a huge clown.
Westbrook is the coldest dude in the NBA right now dude, what kind of players you like watching cause I miss Kobe and Russ actually makes me tune in cause he gives it 100 percent every single possession.
Well said
Every *offensive* possession
But you say that as if he doesn’t try on defense either. Westbrook, before Durant left, was a really good defender because he didn’t have to put everything into carrying the offense. When a guy has to put almost all of his effort into carrying his team offensively, there’s not much left to give on defense.
Then how come people give crap to harden about not defending when bricks is just as bad if not worse?
Yeah it’s so cold how his bigs leave rebounds for him so he can get good stats #killer
So you’re saying PG would be a clown for not leaving to go to LA? He already is if you consider his hypocritical stance in regards to stating his desire to go to LA. Last season he told Pacers’ management that he wanted them to put a better roster around him (presumably to make them a championship contender) and that he wanted the chance to compete for championships. But at the end of the year, he said he wanted to play for the Lakers, a team who have been bad for the past couple of years and won’t be a serious championship contender even with him for another couple of years (basically when the Warriors’ core starts to become too expensive to retain). So why tell the Pacers to put a championship roster in order to win rings now, but then turn around a year later and say that you want to play for the Lakers, who won’t be serious contenders for another couple of years?
How is Hayward leaving proof that Gobert was the leader? Hayward has been around and quietly kept the team afloat until talent arrived.
The guy has incrementally improved along with the team. Stupid to say otherwise like the front office personnel claiming he doesn’t want to be the man.
The Jazz will fall flat without guys like Hayward and Hill there.
Westbrook is a winner guy no question.
He need good team and I think In next 1-2 years he change the team to the Suns or Boston this teams and Philly had the brightest future of all teams
What the f are you smoking?
Hmm, I’m sure the Suns inclusion here has nothing to do with the fact that your a Suns fan.
Also Boston has no more cap space which is why IT can hold them over a barrel and ask for whatever he wants and they essentially have to pay it and have no viable replacement.
Westbrook and George are both leaving next year for the Lakers. There’s obvious money to be shifted around, but Magic and Pelinka will get it done.
Keep dreaming.
dionis is a troll
JT19: The reason PG changed his mind is because he did not see how the Pacers could possibly add the players needed to make a run at the Championship in short order. They don’t have the assets like the Celtics to pull it off and Indiana like Utah are not exactly what NBA players consider desired places to live and play. The other Huge reason is he spoke to LaBron and with both of them being FA’s in a year the decided they will be Lakers. You think Magic likes that idea or what? LaBron already has a house in LA and he’s tired of dealing with his owner who wrote that nice letter about him when he went to Miami. He brought a Championship to the people of Cleveland and now he’s done. How is that difficult to understand. Magic’s smile is getting bigger and bigger. I’m not a Laker fan but this is obvious. I don’t know what happens with Westbrook. He’s his own man but if he wants to win he better team up with a couple other All Stars.