- Draymond Green and Paul George explain how they nearly joined forces
- Dray blames Pacers for dropping the ball on Paul George
- PG dreams about being drafted by GSW
In a shocking revelation on the Podcast P show, longtime Warriors veteran Draymond Green explained how he and Paul George almost became teammates in the summer of 2012. That summer, the Pacers had the 26th pick in the draft which they could have used to draft Draymond, who didn’t get picked up until the second round, when the Warriors got him with the 35th pick.
The Pacers, who had a young Paul George at the time, used their pick to draft Miles Plumlee out of Duke and it’s a mistake that baffles Draymond to this day. “I worked out for Indiana twice,” Dray said. “[They] passed me for Miles Plumlee, but it’s cool… they should blame themselves that you ain’t in Indiana anymore.”
Draymond in Indiana? PG in Golden State? 🧐
It almost happened… pic.twitter.com/ZU4r9AEoBW
— Podcast P with Paul George (@PodcastPShow) September 6, 2023
Draymond would have made the perfect co-star for Paul George back in the day. As a defensive wing player with playmaking abilities, Dray could have thrived in Indiana alongside PG and a team of well-established veterans.
Of course, we’ll never get the chance to find out. For whatever reason, the Pacers elected to pass up on Draymond, and it likely cost them the chance at making a real championship run.
Paul George Reflects On Potential Career With Warriors
Funnily enough, PG and Draymond could have been teammates in another way. In the 2010 draft, the Warriors had the 6th pick when Paul George was still on the table. Sadly, the Dubs elected to draft Ekpe Udoh instead, who only played a total of 340 games in his NBA career.
2010 was still several years before the breakout of the Splash Bros., but can you imagine what kind of team they would have been years later, with Steph, Klay, and Paul George in their prime? “Shoutout to Ekpe Udoh, he gets drafted sixth to the Warriors. What could’ve been,” said George, who was picked four spots later. “Steph, me that year, the following year Klay. It worked out for everybody obviously, but when you think about it, d—, the Warriors was on some s— if they did that.”
Why Did PG Leave The Pacers?
Paul George enjoyed prosperity for seven years in Indiana, but he called it quits in 2017 after multiple failed playoff runs. At the height of his tenure in Indy, his team gave the Miami Heat a good challenge, but they were never able to get over the hump.
While George was just beginning his ascension into stardom, franchise favorite Danny Granger was a shell of himself, and defensive specialist Roy Hibbert was hardly the co-star that PG needed at the time. Like many other modern NBA stars, George got tired of carrying a team by himself and since he wasn’t getting help from a co-star, he became one himself by moving to Los Angeles and playing behind Kawhi Leonard.
Today, Paul George is still ringless, and he had nothing to do but watch as Draymond Green won his four championships with the same Warriors team that could have drafted him years ago. But it really does make you wonder how things might be different had they made a different choice on draft day.
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