For more than a year we’ve been hearing rumors about Paul George wanting to play for the Los Angeles Lakers. Those rumors reached a fever pitch when George told the Pacers he wouldn’t be staying in Indiana next summer and they’d be best off trading him in order to to get something back for him.
While the Pacers were looking for a trade partner, there were reports that many teams were scared off of a George trade because of the expectation that he would be almost assuredly leaving for the Lakers in 2018. That led to the Pacers going with the eventual package offered by the Thunder of Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis, which at the time looked like a steal for Oklahoma City, but has since been made to look like a fairly shrewd move from Indiana.
In any case, George going to the Thunder only creates more drama with his upcoming free agency decision. With Russell Westbrook signed to an extension, George has a star teammate he could pair up with for years to come, and to this point he’s had little to say that wasn’t positive about his time in Oklahoma City. Even so, Los Angeles is still the favorite to land George in the eyes of most. George grew up a diehard Lakers fan and Magic Johnson will be pushing hard for him (even harder than he’s been doing in earning a tampering charge).
With the Thunder playing the Lakers in L.A. on Wednesday night, every question about the Lakers or their roster was destined to be taken as some kind of referendum on his impending decision. For those trying to read the tea leaves with George, his thoughts on rookie point guard Lonzo Ball will make Lakers fans very happy.
Paul George called Lonzo “all around just a great basketball player.” pic.twitter.com/MBh8YdPbQ4
— Tania Ganguli (@taniaganguli) January 3, 2018
George offers a glowing review of Ball, calling him one of the best ever for his age and being impressed with how he’s able to impact the game and get teammates involved. There will, undoubtedly, be those that look at these comments, especially the part about playing the game “the right way,” and think this is George saying he wants to play with Ball (and that he’d prefer a point guard like that over one like Russ). That’s inevitable, but really I think this falls more in line with the George adopting the time-honored tradition of stars trying to rub some shine on younger guys and giving them a boost.
It’s possible George goes to L.A. this summer. It’s possible George wants to play with Lonzo Ball. These comments aren’t any real good indication of either of those things, but it certainly makes for some fodder to talk about in what is an otherwise slow time for trade or free agency rumors in mid-January.
