There's a strong case to be made for either PG13 scenario: Trade for him this Summer or wait to sign him next Summer. What tips the scales for me toward waiting to try & sign him next Summer is examining the potential downsides of either scenario. As John so eloquently laid out a few posts prior, giving up valuable assets for George only to have him bolt next Summer would be a disaster, whereas if we wait to try & sign him and don't land him, it would be a blow, but we'd still theoretically have a nice young base to build with moving forward.
A pro is that if we are able to snag George in the Summer without giving up significant assets a la Randle/Clarkson/Hou 1st, that would really put us in decent position to lure Blake Griffin across the hall, which in turn, could coerce PG to stay longer.
I read yesterday about Butler being in the disgruntled and available boat just like PG13. I wonder what his market value is? Top 3 pick, Randle, Deng for Butler (and filler if needed)? Randle and the pick is too much for an unhappy Butler, but taking back Deng evens it out, no? Then land Biff in FA with a wink wink agreement from PG13 in FA next summer. Russell/Clarkson Butler/Nwaba PG13/Ingram Biff/Nance Zubac/Mozgov
Actually the cba changed so much on this stuff recently that I'm not certain. Should be partial Bird though.
I'm not for waiting another year for George if we have a choice. In another year, George is another year older, and our young players learn more bad losing habits that will have to be un-taught. Also some other GM might decide to take a risk and trade for him the more time you give this. This is only going to be as hard as PG makes it for us. If he's really serious about coming to the Lakers, and he really doesn't want to gut the team for him to join us, it's on PG to make this happen. He has to tell Bird firmly in no ambiguous terms that he will not be signing with Indiana, he won't be changing his mind, and he will not sign with any other team but the Lakers. Other GM's will get word as they already seem to, and Bird won't have any other choice than to sell for pennies on the dollar rather than seeing him walk in another year for nothing. We give him Clarkson, Deng, and a PF of his choice, and he should be happy he's getting that much.
I listened to Bill Oram's and Medina's podcast and they again reiterated that George has definite interest, but has absolutely warned the Lakers not to gut the team for him. Now, trading the young guys for another guy to make the team more competitive (Butler or something) is a little different because it's proven talent, but George is afraid of being Carmelo in New York. All this talk has me getting more and more comfortable with the idea of NOT doing anything crazy this summer. If we can't get an All-Star in FA (Griffin, Hayward, maybe MIllsap, etc) then I'm not motivated to do anything other than add competent pieces on good contracts. In fact my #1b priority is finding a home for at least one of Mozgov and Deng without taking back major salary. If we come back next season with our same young cast, it's not the end of the world. It's a leap of faith that George will stay interested, but it's better than rushing. We're already in it, might as well lean into it. I'd love to get an All-Star this summer, but I'm not going to shoot myself in the foot to do it.
I dont think wed have the cap space to have that many high priced player..biff would need to take a pay cut and i definitely think Moz has to be moved to in order to have any respectable amt of $ to offer biff
Lost in all of this is that George is quietly possibly playing himself into a 3rd team all NBA slot. The Kevin Durant injury and his play in March is making this a possibility. If he gets that selection and can make $70 million more with the Pacers than anyone else, he's not going anywhere. The fate of our franchise and the future of Paul George now hands in the hands of the media. I won't lie, that worries me, I could see the media giving it to him just to screw us and help him get PAID.
I'm still not convinced he gets it. Right now the Pacers aren't in the playoffs. He's got to beat out Butler, Giannis, Leonard, James, Towns, Durant, Davis, Hayward, Green, Cousins, Aldridge, Griffin, Love, Millsap, and maybe Batum. There's some legitimate competition. I can't see him getting in front of Giannis, James, Green, Durant, Davis, and Leonard. Does he get in front of Aldridge and Griffin?
That's assuming the Pacers wanna give him that massive extension. Not sure they will. Sacramento ran into the same problem. Cousins was eligible and they wanted no part of him for that kind of dough.
