What’s Next For Paul George?

NBA Trade Rumors: After falling victim to an embarrasing first round sweep, what’s next for Paul George?

Game 1. Indiana is down one with nine seconds to go. The Pacers inbound to their face of the franchise. LeBron James quickly hounds Paul George to force a pass out of the double team. C.J. Miles makes a good move, pulls up for a mid-ranger game-winner, but it rims out.

The Pacers had a chance to steal Game 1 on the road and set the tone for the entire series against the defending champs. But that wasn’t all that was troublesome from that game. Paul George’s postgame press conference forced him to be a victim of the moment. Out of frustration he, for lack of better words, “threw C.J. Miles under the bus.”

"“I need to be the one taking the last shot.”"

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After another loss in Game 2, Paul George was quick to point fingers at other teammates. This time, it was Lance Stephenson’s turn to Sit Down. Be Humble (Sup Kendrick?).

"“He’s got to learn to control himself and be in the moment. Lance, in our locker room, is looked upon as a leader. His body language has to improve — just for the team. We all know that Lance is an emotional guy. A lot of it is his heart and his competitiveness. That emotion comes out of him. He’s got to channel that toward making effort plays on the court and doing whatever he needs for us to succeed.”"

First of all, if you’re looking at Lance Stephenson as a leader, your team is screwed right off the bat. Second of all, if Paul George is the guy who has to be taking these crunch time shots, why is he a career 0-16 on potential game-winners?

In his last game of the season, he left the fans with a performance of 5-21 from the field (23.8%), four turnovers, and a plus/minus -6 in 44 minutes of play. There were times in Game 4 where he looked like he was already shopping for houses in Los Angeles. His last shot to possibly tie the game up with seconds left was a symbolic back board rattling brick.

So if you can’t put together my feelings towards PG13 already, I think he needs to get far far away from Indiana. But where?

The Los Angeles Lakers.

It’s no secret that Paul George has a soft spot for LA. Indiana knows it, Magic Johnson knows it, and my mother knows it. Paul George has a player option after next season. After next year, he can choose to leave if he isn’t happy with his “title chances”, but who are we kidding. After that performance against the Cavs, they have no answer for LeBron let alone an answer for the winner of the Western Conference. I am disregarding his contract and I think Larry Bird needs to trade him.

The Lakers are horrible. Not because their players aren’t good players, but because they’re all too young to understand what it takes to win meaningful games. Even Luke Walton is learning things on the fly as he just turned 37 years old. L.A. needs a big time player to come in and show these young pups what it’s like to make the playoffs.

Enter: Paul George.

In this scenario, the Lakers finally give up on trying to figure out how to utilize Juilius Randle. Randle goes to Indy to maybe become the go-to guy at the four, who can also play-make and get other players involved. He’d be a great fit along side a longer, rim protecting Myles Turner. A fresh start for Randle may also be just what he needs to take his career to the next level.

Also involved in this trade is a super athletic combo guard Jordan Clarkson to fill that weird two spot for the Pacers. Indy sat Monta Ellis in this year’s playoffs due to defensive liability reasons, allowing C.J. Miles to plug into his place.

Both of these guys don’t do a whole lot for the Pacers, and Clarkson would be a definite upgrade athletically. He shoots almost two percent better from three than Monta (32%) and is a four-point bump in PPG than C.J. (14.7ppg).

That leaves Magic and the Lakers with their new “superstar” (idk if that applies yet). D’Angelo Russell will be able to play the point with a little more freedom now that Clarkson doesn’t have to share time at PG. Brandon Ingram will be able to learn and grow under a four-time all-star that is similar in stature and plays a similar style. One of these guys will make an incredible small ball four, forcing mismatches everywhere you look.

Larry Nance will fill the void of Julius leaving, who has proven he can protect the rim and play above it offensively.

Inserting a seven-year NBA guy into the nucleus of this baby Laker team is like an automatic growth spurt. PG13 has made NBA all-defensive team three times. The Lakers’biggest glaring weakness was that they couldn’t stop a soul. They were dead last in the league in defensive rating (113.0) and 28th in the league at opponents ppg (111.5).

Adding a top two-way player in the league on the wing at 6-foot-9 will not only help with deflections and making the opponent work harder to score, but it will also teach these young Lakers the mentality you need to have defensively.

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This summer will have huge implications on Paul George and how the rest of his career will play out. It is known he has his eyes on the Lakers, and with their youth plus a top-3 pick in this year’s draft, the future will be looking even more appealing. Using the word appealing in the same sentence as the Indiana Pacers at this point is an oxymoron.