Plenty of teams were in on the Paul George sweepstakes this summer: Cleveland, Boston, the Lakers ... but in the end it was the Oklahoma City Thunder coming out of nowhere to trade for the four-time All-Star.
Even more surprising than the team that got him was the package that they sent to the Indiana Pacers. In order to get George, the Thunder traded guard Victor Oladipo (who has a higher salary than George this season) and forward Domantas Sabonis, who averaged 5.9 points and 3.6 rebounds in 20 minutes per game as a rookie last season.
Kevin Durant is quite familiar with Oklahoma City, and the Warriors forward appeared on "The Bill Simmons Podcast" to talk about the NBA offseason frenzy (the episode will be released Monday, but a partial transcript can be found on The Ringer). When it comes to George, it appears that Durant is just as confused as the rest of us.
"I think Paul George is so good. A lot of people disrespect him. Because I play against him and I respect my position," Durant said. "So that was shocking because Indiana just gave him away. And I ain't think OKC would even think about giving up anything to trade for him. I didn't think they would do it, but that was a ballsy move."
NBA players tend to be defensive about other players in the league, so for Durant to say that the Pacers "just gave him away" is telling. He probably doesn't mean any disrespect to Oladipo or Sabonis, but he clearly feels that a player of George's ability was worth much more than those two guys.
Durant and Simmons predicted the Thunder's crunch time lineup of George, Russell Westbrook, Steven Adams, Andre Roberson along with either Alex Abrines or Doug McDermott to stretch the floor.
In case you were wondering, the Warriors and Thunder meet for the first time on Nov. 22 in Oklahoma City. The OKC fans will surely boo Durant just as much as they did last season, but maybe this time -- thanks to George -- the Thunder will actually have a chance to win the game.
