Paul George Traded To OKC

[Vermont Green]

Tough to understand the deal but my conclusion is that this offered two good young players with no dead weight salary back.  The Celtics and Cavs both needed to dump salary as part of the trade.  Indiana ended up with a deal that essentially had no bad salary coming back.  Probably was the reason they liked this deal best.

[Surferdad]

Silver lining: there's a real chance we get two top-5 picks next year.

I've been saying this since the Philly trade.  2 "shot on goal" in a draft with the best big men in YEARS is just too enticing.

I don't get the Ainge criticism.  Seems like emotional reaction.

[Billz401]

Tough to understand the deal but my conclusion is that this offered two good young players with no dead weight salary back.  The Celtics and Cavs both needed to dump salary as part of the trade.  Indiana ended up with a deal that essentially had no bad salary coming back.  Probably was the reason they liked this deal best.

What exactly do you consider "dead weight salary" ?

[jpotter33]

https://twitter.com/ericsports/status/880998937406066689?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fbleacherreport.com%2Fboston-celtics

The Lakers are happy that Paul George was traded to OKC rather than the Cavs or Celtics according to source

[liam]

https://twitter.com/ericsports/status/880998937406066689?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fbleacherreport.com%2Fboston-celtics

The Lakers are happy that Paul George was traded to OKC rather than the Cavs or Celtics according to source

I'm sure they are licking their chops...

[blink]

Silver lining: there's a real chance we get two top-5 picks next year.

I've been saying this since the Philly trade.  2 "shot on goal" in a draft with the best big men in YEARS is just too enticing.

I don't get the Ainge criticism.  Seems like emotional reaction.

I am in your camp.  Pacers didn't want to send PG to Celtics, makes an eastern conf rival really good in the next few years.

[colincb]

ESPN

Indiana Pacers: D-

Perhaps I'm dramatically overestimating the trade value of star players, but it feels like I could copy over much of my analysis of last week's Jimmy Butler trade and apply it here.

Yes, George's agent telling the Pacers he planned to sign with the L.A. Lakers as a free agent next summer and wouldn't remain in Indiana no matter what put the team in a tough position. No, we don't know what other offers were out there for George, who might not have had the value as a rental that his ability on the court would imply.

Nonetheless, to come away with a package similar to but worse than the one Oklahoma City got for Serge Ibaka last summer (when Ibaka was entering the final year of his contract) is a failure, as I see it.

Let's start with Oladipo, presumably the centerpiece of this trade for the Pacers. He's a useful player at a thin position in the league. He's also signed for $21 million a year over the next four seasons and has never in his career posted a league-average true shooting percentage.
   
Through age 25, Oladipo looks like a volume scorer with better-than-average defense for a player of that ilk. His most impressive feat to date is probably his solid usage rate last season -- using 29.5 percent of the Thunder's plays while Russell Westbrook was on the bench, per NBA.com/Stats, with not-atrocious .518 true shooting. (League average was .552.)

A player's value in a trade is determined by his production on the court minus his salary. If Oladipo is fairly paid, he should have essentially neutral trade value. If he's in fact overpaid -- and my multiyear projections suggest he is, by about $16 million over the next three seasons -- then he should actually have negative value.

Then there's Sabonis. An important lesson of both the Butler and George trades is the value lottery picks continue to have even after it's clear their performance doesn't measure up to expectations. Like Kris Dunn, part of the return in the Butler trade, Sabonis was ineffective as a rookie. In fact, his 3.3 wins worse than replacement level by my WARP metric were the league's third-lowest total, ahead of only fellow rookies Brandon Ingram and Isaiah Whitehead.

It's possible Sabonis was miscast in a Thunder starting lineup short on 3-point shooting. Sabonis operated as something of a stretch-4 and rarely ventured inside, attempting just two free throws in the season's first 26 games (all starts). After a strong month of November, Sabonis shot just 29-of-110 (26.3 percent) from beyond the arc the remainder of the season.

Playing alongside stretch-5 Myles Turner may afford Sabonis more ability to play down low, where he was effective at Gonzaga. But Sabonis is heavily reliant on his left hand, which caused problems when defenders read the scouting report. He shot just 38.5 percent on post-up plays, per Synergy Sports tracking, and wasn't particularly effective in the pick-and-roll. Even the most optimistic assessment must concede Sabonis isn't as valuable as he looked when he was drafted No. 11 overall a year ago.

And that's it. The Pacers were unable to come away with any draft picks and will have to hope to build around an Oladipo-Turner core in the summer of 2018, when they can have $50-plus million in cap space if they waive Monta Ellis and Al Jefferson (stretching the latter's $4 million guarantee) and Thaddeus Young declines his player option.

[knuckleballer]

This feels like a nightmare.  Why did the Indy settle now?  Why didn't we offer way more?  I feel sick.

[Surferdad]

Silver lining: there's a real chance we get two top-5 picks next year.

I've been saying this since the Philly trade.  2 "shot on goal" in a draft with the best big men in YEARS is just too enticing.

I don't get the Ainge criticism.  Seems like emotional reaction.

I am in your camp.  Pacers didn't want to send PG to Celtics, makes an eastern conf rival really good in the next few years.

Exactly.  It's a very simple explanation instead of all the "spite" trade and "fire Ainge" drivel.

[GratefulCs]

thank god


that was a close one


i did NOT want ainge to give up assets or young players for a rental

stay the course

we've come a long way

[aingeforthree]

Silver lining: there's a real chance we get two top-5 picks next year.

I've been saying this since the Philly trade.  2 "shot on goal" in a draft with the best big men in YEARS is just too enticing.

I don't get the Ainge criticism.  Seems like emotional reaction.

I am in your camp.  Pacers didn't want to send PG to Celtics, makes an eastern conf rival really good in the next few years.

And the Celtics didn't want to give away gold with no assurance past a year. Terrible 'panic' move. Not necessary

[Tr1boy]

This feels like a nightmare.  Why did the Indy settle now?  Why didn't we offer way more?  I feel sick.

Okc prob gave the Pacers a deadline

[crownontherocks]

According to a source, the Paul George for Victor Oladipo & Domantas Sabonis trade will be completed after the moratorium on July 7.

nate taylor

so can indy back out of deal?

[SparzWizard]

According to a source, the Paul George for Victor Oladipo & Domantas Sabonis trade will be completed after the moratorium on July 7.

nate taylor

so can indy back out of deal?

If somebody locks Paul George in a house then possibly lol.

[Roy H.]

According to a source, the Paul George for Victor Oladipo & Domantas Sabonis trade will be completed after the moratorium on July 7.

nate taylor

so can indy back out of deal?

They can, but other than a failed physical I can't think of an example where a team backed out of an agreed upon trade in the NBA.