Woj now reporting that the Lakers "feel pretty confident" that they can sign George in 2018 whether he's traded to another team or not. Some thoughts:
1) The Lakers are always irrationally confident that they can sign everyone, just like Love, Derozan, Aldridge, etc. Hell they thought that they should get a meeting with Durant after being the second worst team in the league last year. So their "confidence" doesn't really mean anything to me.
2) This is an obvious attempt to dissuade Boston or another more competitive team from trying to trade for PG. That much is clear. They're afraid that if he goes somewhere else and wins, he won't consider them next year at all.
3) I still don't buy this whole narrative. George has repeatedly said that he wants to win, and I'm sure he'd love to do that in LA. However, that's just not a reality any time soon, so I highly, highly doubt that he decides to go to a team that is more than likely a bottom-3 team once again next year, who doesn't even own their pick at that.
Ultimately, I think Magic is suspecting that Boston or some other team is going to trade for him, which is why he fed Woj this report trying to dissuade that from happening. This might also suggest that George in fact missed the All-NBA team and Magic found out about it early, making a trade from Indy very, very likely.
Doesn't Woj work for ESPN now? Hopefully he maintains his credibility, as this isn't a good start.
Like I mentioned in another thread, the last big free agent to sign with the Lakers, that I can remember, is Shaquille O'Neal almost 20 years ago. I don't know who was the last big free agent to sign before that. I think the Lakers and their fans are out of touch regarding their ability to lure free agents.
Let's assume for a moment we acquire George and his bird rights.
IMO we would be going "all-in" and the C;s office pushes to also land another good player, like a Hayward or a Butler or someone of that caliber. That makes us contenders.
When has a star player EVER left a contender to go to a dumpster fire of a team? LA is still going to be saddled with the Deng/Mozgov contracts, and they're going to need to pay their younger players. They don't have their draft pick next year; their current team + Ball is likely the roster George would be joining.
He would be leaving a ton of money on the table by leaving, as he'd get a lower pay scale and only be eligible for 4 years instead of 5.
Only way I see PG going to the Lakers is if he REALLY thinks Ingram and Ball are going to be superstars he can win a title with. And even if they are destined to be great, he'll be near the end of his prime before they really become a viable option to defeat the Warriors.
The C's window much more closely correlates with his own.
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