Oklahoma City lands Paul; Griffin agrees to stay in L.A.
Paul George has a new home, and Russell Westbrook has a new star teammate.
The Indiana Pacers have agreed to trade George to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis, said two people with knowledge of the details. The stunning deal gives Westbrook, the newly crowned NBA MVP, some serious help next season.
Teams came together on the trade Friday just hours before the free agent market was set to open, said the people who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the trade was not official.
George told the Pacers recently that he planned to leave as a free agent next summer, forcing the team to find a trade before losing him for nothing.
The trade was first reported by ESPN.
George could have been in line for the so-called “Supermax” extension — a five-year pact worth about $205 million — with Indiana this summer, had he been voted onto the All-NBA team this offseason.
He wasn’t, though if he is an All-NBA player next season — which is certainly possible with the numbers he could post playing alongside Westbrook — George would be eligible for a huge payday again. And the irony there is that if he is set on joining the Los Angeles Lakers in 2018, as has been reported for some time, George would miss out on that massive extra windfall.
George is the second Eastern Conference All-Star from this past season to join the already-loaded Western Conference in the last few days. Jimmy Butler was traded by Chicago to Minnesota on draft night.
“Playoffs spots are opening up,” Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid noted on his Twitter account Friday night.
In the East, that certainly seems to be the case.
George broke his left leg in a gruesome scene while playing with USA Basketball in Las Vegas in 2014, which prompted fears he would never be the same. Those fears were most unfounded, since George has better than ever in the last two seasons — averaging 23.1 points and 7.0 rebounds in 2015-16, and following that up with averages of 23.7 points and 6.6 rebounds this past season.
He’s been to the playoffs six times, getting to the East finals twice and losing to Miami each time.
Indiana will be Oladipo’s third team, after starting his career in Orlando and spending last season in Oklahoma City. He’s averaged 15.9 points per game in his four pro seasons, on 43 percent shooting.
Sabonis started 66 games as a rookie last season with the Thunder, averaging 5.9 points.
Griffin stays with Clippers
Blake Griffin took the drama out of his turn as a free agent, agreeing to re-sign with the Clippers Thursday evening after meeting with Clippers owner Steve Ballmer, executives Doc Rivers, Lawrence Frank, Jerry West and a host of players at Staples Center, a source told the Southern California News Group.
The Vertical reported the contract will be for the maximum, five years and $173 million. Teams and players could begin agreeing to terms on Friday, but contracts can’t be signed until the league’s moratorium period ends July 6 at 9 a.m. PT.
Griffin canceled meetings with Phoenix and Denver after hearing the Clippers’ pitch. The pact represented a major free agency win for the Clippers, who earlier in the week were forced to trade Chris Paul to the Houston Rockets after the All-NBA point guard informed the team he intended to opt out of his contract and leave as a free agent.
Among the players who attended Griffin’s meeting Friday night were Patrick Beverley and Sam Dekker, who were part of the return in the Paul trade.
The Clippers are now expected to turn their attention to finding a quality small forward after years of a patchwork, fingers-crossed approach at the position. Luc Mbah a Moute, who was the Clippers’ primary starter at the position last season, opted out of the last year of his contract Thursday and is an unrestricted free agent.
Armed only with an $8.4 million mid-level exception, the Clippers plan to pursue Denver forward Danilo Gallinari and Andre Iguodala, the 2015 NBA Finals MVP and a linchpin of the Golden State Warriors recent run of dominance.
Griffin, who was drafted No. 1 overall by the Clippers played 61 games last season and averaged 21.6 points, 8.1 rebounds and 4.9 assists, helping the Clippers to the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference. The Clippers lost their first round series to the Utah Jazz in seven games after Griffin suffered a broken plantar plate in his right big toe in Game 3.
