If things had gone the way Paul George wanted, back in 2017, he might have been wearing the iconic purple and gold jersey at the moment.
On the latest episode of Podcast P, George revealed that the Los Angeles Lakers were his no. 1 choice when he requested a trade from the Indiana Pacers.
“When I came out and asked for a trade, I knew Indiana was going to trade me wherever they can get the best value,” George said. “We were trying to protect going somewhere that I really didn’t want to go. Obviously, I wanted to come back home. Lakers was, you know, first – my idol went there.”
(starts at 48:44 mark):
The idol, of course, was Kobe Bryant and it’s not a surprise that George wanted to follow in his footsteps and play for the Lakers. As he says, though, the Pacers were going to trade him to whichever team made the best offer, and that was the Oklahoma City Thunder.
In 2018, George would have the chance to go to the Lakers as he entered free agency, but he chose to remain with the Thunder and didn’t even have a meeting with the Lakers. It proved to be a mistake, as just a year later, George requested a trade from the Thunder. He got his wish to be in L.A., just that he was on the Clippers and not the Lakers.
It is interesting to think how things would have panned out if George had ended up on the Lakers in 2017. PG being there would mean LeBron James would have a co-star from his first season with the team itself, which would be great. The Lakers, though, would have to trade some of their promising youngsters to acquire George, and that, in turn, would mean they’d have a hard time getting Anthony Davis in 2019. Perhaps George not getting his wish did work out for the Lakers in the long run.
Paul George Almost Teamed Up With LeBron James On The Cavaliers
When George requested the trade, there were a host of teams interested in him. He was coming off a season in which he averaged 23.7 PPG, 6.6 RPG, 3.3 APG, and 1.6 SPG and was a sought-after commodity. The Cleveland Cavaliers were one of the teams after George, and they got close to getting him.
In this episode, George revealed that he and LeBron, who was in Cleveland at the time, even spoke about how they could make it work. The Pacers eventually decided not to send him to the Cavs because they are in the same division and ended up trading him to OKC. He is happy to be on the Clippers now, though, and would be hoping to get back on the court as soon as he can as he recovers from his knee injury.
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