An Indiana paper saying an Indiana source says the Pacers aren't desperate to trade George? Yeah ok, that's not negotiation tactics at all. Don't buy it.
^^ I absolutely agree Lakerman JSJ. The chess game has begun and each side is positioning their pieces as best they can. Pacers are going to lose him and are just trying to get as much as possible while they can. If they put up too much resistance though they may lose out. I think the potential is higher for them now before the draft than later in the summer or before the deadline.
They can try to gain leverage all they want, but at the end of the day Paul George still clearly wants to be a Laker and hasn't shown any interest in any other team. No team is gonna be stupid enough to take the kind of gamble necessary to try and acquire George when he's so adamant about playing for the Lakers. They're just delaying the inevitable.
Re: the media- Many of these people needed D'Angelo so that they could write stories. They could also have been requested by the Lakers not to leak those reports. The Lakers would be privy to all that information and leaking it about their player would be a detriment. The reporters aren't likely to go against the Lakers or risk losing their access. Everything becomes off the record. It's possible he was a party animal in LA frequenting clubs and bars and whatnot. He could be mixed up with the wrong crowd, smoking certain things, etc. It's not illegal to have a ton of fun as a young athlete, but it is something the team will frown upon if the product isn't what it needs to be.
No team? Don't know about that. You never know if Cleveland offers Love and Indy likes that better (for whatever reason), or Boston flips one of their assets and takes the gamble that he'll like it there competing for the Finals, or what about the Clippers? Maybe they take the gamble that LA is LA, and they can keep him on their team by offering more money and he's in LA anyway. As much as PG is "Lakers or bust" this very moment, things happen. You can't just offer a ham sandwich and cross your arms and that's that. Not saying we need to overpay, whatsoever. But don't take another team coming in at the last second completely off the table. That is absolutely possible, and if the Lakers are offering next to nothing, they wouldn't even need to offer much to trump our garbage offer.
if PG has made it clear he will not extend his contract anywhere but in LA, then i don't see why clarkson+27+28 shouldn't be enough to get it done. what? is indy going to refuse to trade him and keep him the entire season knowing he doesn't want to be there? if all that is true, there's no need to overpay. the ball is in the laker's court and it's not going anywhere unless PG actually comes out and says he'd be willing to extend anywhere
That doesn't explain outlets like TMZ and others in LA that don't give a damn about having access to Laker players. If this was being kept under wraps in OKC, that is plausible. You can't hide in LA. If he was out doing the things you described above, TMZ would have caught him numerous times. If he was throwing parties at his house, people would have talked to these outlets.
i'd rather they deal clarkson but i can live with randle being dealt we'd probably become the worst rebounding team in the league but oh well
My gut feeling? Pacers want the #2 or Ingram. That ain't gonna happen. Lakers want to unload Deng. Not a deal breaker, but it would be nice to be free of his contract. The 27 and 28 picks are in play, but it's what we send them that will seal the deal. If they want Randle, they take Deng and give us a prospect in return. If not, it's Clarkson and the two picks and that's the end of it. Negotiations will go throughout the day, will probably happen tomorrow before the draft when Indy realizes they're "posturing" isn't working.
Guys, if you're Indy and the best offer on the table is Clarkson, #27, & #28, maybe that's the deal you take, but why rush to take it now? What is the downside for them to wait it out all the way to draft time tomorrow? That offer isn't going anywhere and it wouldn't take a lot to trump it. The intelligent move is to wait it out.
Considering Randle is up for a new contract next year, would unloading Randle and Deng leave enough room for 3 stars (i.e. PG13, LeBron and Westbrook)?
In the end, if someone asked you before the lottery if you would trade Dlo and Randle for #2 pick and PG? Im sure almost all of you would say yes.
I actually agree with this. DLO, Randle, Mosgov, and 27/28 picks to bring in PG, Lopez, and Ball? Yeah, I'm good with that.
