Paul George plays for the Indiana Pacers as small forward and shooting guard. (Photo : Twitter)
More NBA trade possibilities emerge as other teams could take interest in the top trade targets.
It was Bill Simmons, now of The Ringer, who brought about the rumor that the Lakers are interested in trading for Paul George.
Even the Lakers own are not so confident of their chances, as manifested in Lakers Nation as they mention that "top 20 players are not easy to come by," so they need to pay a high price to pry them away.
However, "Godfather offers" do exist and a team like the Indiana Pacers has a lot of needs with limited methods to fill them. Larry Bird will not allow them to tank (even in the season when George was injured) so they would have to sign free agents or trade.
Trading George would be a step back any way you look at it (unless it was for Kevin Durant, apparently) since it's likely that it won't bring back a superstar in return. However, depending on the haul that the Pacers get, they can bounce back quickly.
In Bill Simmons' theory, the Pacers would entertain a meeting if the Lakers offered their draft pick (then assumed to be top 3, now it's assured as no.2) and last year's 2nd overall pick D'Angelo Russell. It can be assumed that the no.2 pick this year is Brandon Ingram, so essentially, it's Ingram and Russell.
While the Duke standout can fill in the PG13's position and Russell is the taller point guard that could play alongside George Hill, it's a long way to go before they can reach the point when George was on their team.
What if another team decides to make a play for George-one with more assets and future picks like the Denver Nuggets? This was explored by Dan Favale of Bleacher Report.
Favale noted three players on the roster of the Nuggets, Wilson Chandler who "plays and defends the 2, 3 and 4, and his end-to-end athleticism at least begins to fill the void left by George."
Will Barton is a player who emerged last season and is now a reliable scorer at a bargain rate of $7 million. Finally, Jusuf Nurkic is a center that can complement the Pacers Myles Turner.
Since the Nuggets are trading for a superstar, the 7th and 15th draft picks should also be part of the deal. The Pacers will get younger but the team can build a core that could grow together-something like George, David West and Roy Hibbert in the team that challenged the Miami Heat for Eastern supremacy twice in a row.
The Nuggets will still be left with their players for the future, Emmanuel Mudiay and Nikola Jokic along with Danilo Galinari, Kenneth Faried and Gary Harris and of course, Paul George.
Will it make both teams better in the short term? Not for the Pacers, but if they did not make this move, they have to wait for star free agent signings to fill out holes-something that may not happen at all.
