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With Paul George in the process of getting settled in his new home with the Oklahoma City Thunder, some interesting news came to light about a trade that seemingly almost happened with the Golden State Warriors. George joined ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski’s podcast on Thursday, where he dropped a complete shocker on the NBA world.
Apparently, the Warriors declined a trade offer from the Indiana Pacers that involved George going to Golden State in exchange for Klay Thompson.
“There were a lot of trade discussions — I think probably every team in the league checked in with Indiana about you in that window when you were available. One offer I was told was made was that Indiana offered you to Golden State for Klay Thompson, Golden State said no, and talks didn’t go anywhere.”
Wojnarowski threw out the report, and the former Pacers forward said he was aware of the trade offer during the podcast.
“Yeah, I think that would have been a Chris Paul to L.A. situation where they denied that trade,” George said. “Yeah, I was aware of it. I would’ve looked forward to it, of just being in a good situation and a chance to compete for a championship. But it didn’t happen. It’s still fun to team up with a special talent and have a chance to compete against that team.”
This poses a few interesting questions. The first is why the Warriors would decline the trade. Obviously, Thompson is a great shooter and a very good defender as well, but George is no slouch on the defensive end either. He not only averaged over 23 points in each of the past two seasons but also had over 1.6 steals per game as well.
Whether or not the league would have actually denied the trade, as it did with Chris Paul going to the Los Angeles Lakers back in 2011, isn’t the main question here. The real shocker is that the Warriors seem to have actually declined the trade which would have added a 27-year-old star in George to their roster.
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That old saying of “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it” apparently came into play for the Warriors, who have won two of the last three NBA Championships. There is the potential that the league could have stepped in, obviously, and if the Warriors were concerned about that, or were tipped off on it, then denying the trade makes sense. If they had accepted it and it then got overturned, Thompson could have potentially been upset with the team for nearly trading him, which could have messed up the chemistry the Warriors built last season.
Either way, the potential to see George teamed up with Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and Draymond Green had to have been just downright terrifying for the rest of the NBA. And of course, fans will always wonder about the question of whether or not commissioner Adam Silver would have actually denied the trade when all was said and done.
