Paul George’s Road to Los Angeles Gets Bumpy From Here
This week’s events are just the beginning of what is going to be a long season for Paul George and the Los Angeles Lakers.
What a week it turned out to be for the Los Angeles Lakers. After surviving the NBA draft lottery for the fourth time, Magic Johnson, Rob Pelinka and the gang can get together to discuss the future of the franchise with some degree of clarity.
They now know they have not one, but two first round picks in this year’s draft, including the second overall pick and the No. 28 pick (via Houston).
The Lakers could, and most likely will, use those picks to add a pair of talented young players to develop alongside their already exciting young core of D’Angelo Russell, Jordan Clarkson, Brandon Ingram, Julius Randle, Larry Nance Jr. and Ivica Zubac. However, there is also a good chance a high-quality player becomes available between now and the draft on June 22, which could affect how the Lakers approach draft night.
Namely, Paul George.
George has been the subject of trade speculation since last summer and like most players born in Southern California, he has been heavily linked to the Lakers. Those rumors have only gained steam since the draft lottery and they’re not going away any time soon.
Giving up anything meaningful for George would certainly be a risky move for the Lakers considering they can just wait a year and try to sign him in free agency. While there is always a chance a team trades for him before then, the Lakers are confident it won’t matter, according to The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
“For the Lakers, they are pretty confident and have a great deal of belief that they’re in position to get Paul George in 2018 whether he stays in Indiana or he’s traded elsewhere,” Wojnarowski said.
And they have every reason to believe that.
George recently made an appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” to promote his new Nike sneakers. You know, like everyone that plays for the Pacers (context: they don’t). In the interview, Kimmel, a known Lakers fan, took every opportunity to recruit George, even asking the 27-year-old All-Star if he had spoken to Kobe Bryant about joining the Lakers, to which he replied, “Not yet.”
Not “Nah man, I’m currently under contract with another team and probably shouldn’t be talking about this kind of stuff.” Simply, “Not yet.”
In George’s defense, he did his best to play it cool and rebuff all the silly Lakers questions, but make no mistake — he knew exactly he was walking into and he loved every minute of it.
That interview only reinforced the already well-reported notion that George is “hell-bent” on coming to LA next season. The only thing that would have stopped him from leaving Indy next summer? Money.
In the event George made an All-NBA team, he would have been eligible for the NBA’s designated veteran extension which would have earned him up to $207 million over the next five years. When the All-NBA teams were announced on Thursday, George’s name wasn’t there.
Even without the designated veteran exception, the Pacers can still offer George a five-year deal worth around $177 million. The most the Lakers, and any other team, can offer him is a four-year max close to $130 million.
According to USA Today Sports’ Sam Amick, however, “the money doesn’t matter nearly as much to him as most might assume” anyway. Even if that was the case, that nearly $50 million he would be missing out on could be made up in his next deal.
What is important to George now more than ever is his legacy, according Amick:
… whether it’s realistic or not, the 27-year-old who grew up idolizing Bryant in Palmdale, Calif. clearly believes he can lift the Lakers out of the darkness. The question now, it seems, is whether the Lakers will have the necessary patience and prudence on their end to make the most of their situation.
The table is set for George’s homecoming, the only problem is the Lakers aren’t ready for him. At least not yet.
Going into next summer, the Lakers will have $46.5 million committed in guaranteed salary thanks in no small part to the contracts given to Luol Deng and Timofey Mozgov last summer. Combined, they will take up $34 million through the 2018–19 season.
Jordan Clarkson, who signed a friendly four-year, $50 million deal last summer, makes up the remaining $12.5 million on their books.
That’s not including the club options for D’Angelo Russell, Brandon Ingram, Larry Nance Jr., Ivica Zubac and David Nwaba. With the exception of Nwaba, all of those options are a virtual lock to be picked up, jumping the $46.5 million on their books to around $63 million.
Their final order of business will be figuring out what to do with Julius Randle. If the front office is already sold on what they’ve seen from Randle, they can offer him an extension this summer that maxes $15o million over a five year span.
Barring a breakout season from Randle this year, max money isn’t in the near future for him. Not from the Lakers, at least.
However, if the Lakers extend Randle the qualifying offer worth $5.5 million next summer and he declines it, he will enter restricted free agency where teams with plenty of cap space and no real talent or upside will offer him money the Lakers would be hesitant to match. Looking at you, Brooklyn.
If the Lakers really want to see George in LA, unfortunately sacrifices are going to have to be made. This is likely the direction things will go if the Lakers are given any indication that they have a chance to sign George.
Obviously, the ideal scenario would involve someone taking Deng and Mozgov’s contracts in a salary dump, but salary dumps usually involve a pick or multiple picks. If not picks, then young players, which the Lakers have an abundance of, but can’t let go if they want to remain competitive enough to convince George to sign with them.
Letting Randle walk might seem like a small price to pay for a four-time All-Star in his prime years, but if it weren’t for some decisions made by the front office last season, the Lakers probably could have had their cake and eaten it too.
