MONDAY, 1:15pm: While George has been talking about his extension as if it's a done deal, Pacers president Larry Bird tells Michael Pointer of the Indianapolis Star that it's close, but not quite finished.
"That’s why I’m not playing golf today," Bird told Pointer, during an appearance before a Pacers Foundation golf outing at Brickyard Crossing. "I’m going back to the office to work on it."
Even as Bird pumps the brakes a little, it sounds to me as if it will just be a matter of days before we hear an official announcement from the team.
SUNDAY, 9:21pm: The Pacers and Paul George are finalizing a five-year deal worth more than $90MM, league sources told Adrian Wojnarowski and Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports. George is represented by Aaron Mintz of CAA Sports, according to the Hoops Rumors Agency Database.
George, 23, was scheduled to become a restricted free agent following the conclusion of the 2013/14 season. While there wasn't a ton of concern that George would flee the Pacers, fans were able to breathe even easier thanks to the star's comments over the summer. Last week, George said point blank that a contract extension was "going to get done" between him and the club.
The forward was named the NBA's Most Improved Player for 2012/13, when he set career-highs in PPG (17.4), RPG (7.6), PER (16.8), and several other categories. He also helped lead the Pacers to within one game of the NBA Finals, even without the services of Danny Granger.
George boosted his scoring average from 17.0 PPG in the regular season to 19.2 PPG during the Pacers' playoff run. He made himself a household name in the postseason and he could make himself known even more on a global scale if he's part of USA Basketball's 2014 team and the 2016 Olympic team in Brazil.
With George under contract for the forseeable future, the Pacers can now turn their focus to finishing what they started last season. George will spearhead an improved team this season that will feature a healthy Granger and an improved bench with offseason additions Luis Scola and Chris Copeland off the bench.
Indiana re-signed David West to a three-year, $36MM extension in July and locked up Roy Hibbert with a four-year, $58MM deal last summer. The Pacers had until October 31st to hammer something out with George, but it looks like they can use the next few weeks to go candy shopping instead.
that is an overpay, but still a good thing to keep him signed. I feel like max contracts are starting to get thrown around for some marginal stars rather than superstars, but I guess you can argue that if they didnt overpay, someone else would have. Plus George still has room for improvement and he can still end up being one of those superstar type players in the next couple of years
Good deal for both sides in my opinion. Maybe a little overpay from the Pacers but George has shown superstar potential. He is already a great wing defender and on offense he needs to keep working on his jump shot to improve his shooting percentage. What the Pacers need to do now is trade Granger for a true PG, improvement at SG or an elite 3pt shooter. I thought what they really missed last year is someone who can stretch the D a little and provide spacing in the half-court offense.
Rudy Gay, Joe Johnson, David Lee, Amar’e Stoudemire. These teams don’t learn, do they?
Solid player, but NOT even CLOSE to a 18 mil a year guy. He had a slightly better year than he did the year before, I don’t see what the rush was. That puts him ahead of Westbrook, Love, and Rose. Unbelievable.
Just some perspective, he’s shot progressively worse over the last 3 years and his road shooting percentage is 39% and 29% from 3. I know shooting isn’t everything, but when they’re building a team around you, you better know how to shoot. For him to get 6 mil a year more than Iguodala is ridiculous. If Iguodala gets criticized for his offense (and can shoot better than George) why is George getting such undue hype?