Paul George Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Paul George Talks Free Agency, Thunder, L.A.

January 5th, 2018 at 11:30am CST by Luke Adams

While many players are hesitant to discuss trade requests that went public, Paul George hasn’t shied away from the topic as his Thunder visited Los Angeles, explaining earlier this week why he didn’t regret that his desire to play for the Lakers became known.

Both before and after OKC’s matchup with the Lakers on Wednesday night, George went into a little more detail on his upcoming free agency, his current team, and his hometown city. Here are a few of the star forward’s noteworthy comments from the last couple days:

On his 2018 free agency and the Thunder’s chance to re-sign him (via ESPN):

“This summer will be huge. I’ve got a lot to think about. If we’re trending, if we’re going in the right direction, if I feel there is something that we’re building, and there’s a foundation — it would be kind of clueless, just stupid on my behalf to up and leave.”

On not needing to win a title with the Thunder this season in order to seriously consider re-signing:

“I’m very conscious that we’re only together for a year so far, and we continue to go in an upward trend. It’s best to stick with what we have and work on building. So, I wouldn’t say it’s championship or bust, or championship and I’m out. It’s all about building. If I like where we’re building or the level that we’re going at, it would be stupid to walk away from that.”

On the adjustments he, Carmelo Anthony, and Russell Westbrook have had to make:

“The biggest change was myself, Melo, telling Russ he has to be who he is. All of us were kind of afraid to step on toes, deferring. I felt at times Russ was looking to get others involved when sometimes he has shots that he has to take, and it was throwing everybody out of rhythm. Now he knows that we got his back. We trust him, he trusts us. We got a rhythm. We’ve all been shooting the ball well lately. We’re in a group, we’re relaxed, we’re comfortable out there.”

On being transparent this week about his love for Los Angeles (via Royce Young):

“The fact of the matter is I’m from here and I love being here but that has nothing to do with my decision with where I’m going to be playing at the end of the day.”

Lakers Notes: George, Lopez, Ball, Kuzma

January 3rd, 2018 at 2:05pm CST by Luke Adams

The Thunder have a pair of Staples Center dates on their schedule this week, with games against the Lakers on Wednesday and the Clippers on Thursday. As a result, Paul George has been prompted by reporters to revisit his reported desire to be dealt to the Lakers this past offseason. Asked about that on Tuesday, George confirmed that he would have “loved to go back home and play for my city,” but called the deal that sent him to Oklahoma City a “win-win.”

Of course, it wasn’t necessarily a “win” for the Lakers, who missed out on George and were subsequently fined $500K for tampering with the Pacers. The NBA’s official announcement on that fine suggested that GM Rob Pelinka had improper contact with George’s agent, but the former Pacers forward suggested today that the penalty stemmed from interactions he had with Lakers associate head coach Brian Shaw.

“There was no tampering at all,” George said of the Lakers and his conversations with Shaw (link via Bill Oram of The Orange County Register). “The only thing me and B-Shaw ever spoke about was fishing, and challenge each other on fishing trips. B-Shaw has way, way, way better class than to try to recruit me.”

Sources confirmed to Ramona Shelburne of ESPN that the league’s investigation did probe the relationship between George and Shaw, but found no evidence of tampering on that front.

Here’s more on the Lakers, including another note on George:

Russell Westbrook isn’t preparing a sales pitch for George to keep him in Oklahoma City and away from the Lakers, preferring to let the Thunder’s results speak for themselves, tweets Tania Ganguli of The Los Angeles Times. “Sales pitch is when we win a championship,” Westbrook said. “Beat that pitch.”
Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report explores whether or not it makes sense for the Lakers to try to push to acquire George before the trade deadline. Of course, as Pincus acknowledges, unless the Thunder slump in the coming weeks, George probably won’t be on the block.
Having been initially ruled questionable for Wednesday night’s game against the Thunder, Lakers center Brook Lopez will be available to play, per Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN (Twitter link). Lonzo Ball will miss tonight’s game and is day-to-day.
Speaking of Ball, Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report revisits the 2017 NBA draft and suggests that if teams were to re-draft today, Ball would slip to No. 4 instead of going second overall to the Lakers. Wasserman has Markelle Fultz going to the Lakers at No. 2, with the Sixers using the top pick on Jayson Tatum. Kyle Kuzma also soars into the lottery in Wasserman’s hypothetical re-draft, going fifth overall to Sacramento.

MacMullan’s Latest: Irving, LeBron, Cavs, Suns

January 3rd, 2018 at 10:27am CST by Luke Adams

With Isaiah Thomas having returned to the Cavaliers on Tuesday, and the Cavs now poised to square off against the Celtics on Wednesday, it only makes sense to revisit one of the 2017 offseason’s biggest trades. ESPN’s Jackie MacMullan has done just that, taking a deep dive into the factors that led to Kyrie Irving heading from Cleveland to Boston.

Along the way, MacMullan passes along several noteworthy tidbits — while the whole piece is worth checking out, especially for Cavs and Celtics fans, we’ve rounded up some of the most interesting details below:

While Irving made his trade request in July, the Cavaliers explored the possibility of moving the point guard in June, which MacMullan suggests contributed to Irving’s decision to ask out of Cleveland. “They didn’t want me there,” Irving said of the Cavs. Former teammate LeBron James disputes that notion, which he says “makes absolutely no sense.”
One deal the Cavs explored in June would have sent Irving and Channing Frye to the Suns and resulted in both Paul George and Eric Bledsoe landing in Cleveland. However, Phoenix balked at that deal, since the club was unwilling to give up the No. 4 overall pick, says MacMullan. A few days later, the Pacers dealt George to the Thunder instead.
Although no formal offer was made during those negotiations, Irving caught wind of the talks and believed they were orchestrated by James’ camp, since LeBron shares an agent with Bledsoe. Team and league sources suggest otherwise, telling MacMullan that former Cavs GM David Griffin sensed that an Irving trade request may be coming and initiated talks with the Suns.
When Irving and his agent met with the Cavaliers on July 9, they pressed owner Dan Gilbert about the team’s direction, and mentioned the Spurs, Knicks, and Timberwolves as preferred landing spots for Irving. Boston didn’t come up during that meeting, but Gilbert coveted the Nets‘ 2018 first-round pick that was held by the Celtics, and Irving’s camp didn’t oppose a deal to the C’s.
When the Celtics emerged as a viable trade partner for Irving and the Cavs, Gilbert went to James and attempted to secure a promise that he’d stay in Cleveland beyond the 2017/18 season, but LeBron declined to commit, sources tell MacMullan.

Paul George Discusses Lakers’ Chatter, Offseason Trade

January 2nd, 2018 at 6:56pm CST by ChrisCrouse

Paul George, who can hit free agency after the season, has been linked to the Lakers for years and all the chatter over the offseason resulted in Los Angeles absorbing a $500K fine for violating the league’s anti-tampering rules.

George previously described the talk of his desire to play in Los Angeles as “overstated,” while maintaining that winning is the top priority. Today, he told the media that he has no regrets about discussing the Lakers and reiterated that he’s not solely focused on playing in his home state.

“No, no regrets at all. All that was said was that a destination I would love to go to,” George said (via NBA.com). “There wasn’t, you know, a ‘hey, gunpoint to the head, send me here.’ I just stated somewhere that I wanted to go play. You ask 80, 70 percent of the guys in the league if they would love to go back home and play for their city, play for their home, that’s all I stated. I would have loved to go back home and play for my city.”

George also briefly touched upon the deal that sent him to the Thunder during the media session. “I thought this trade that went down was a win-win for both sides,” the small forward added. Oklahoma City sent out Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis to the Pacers to bring PG13 to town.

George, who was a huge fan of Los Angeles and Kobe Bryant growing up, will play the Lakers in the Staples Center for the first and only time this season on Wednesday, as the Thunder will not make another trip to the city to take on Magic Johnson’s squad.

Northwest Notes: Mitchell, Allen, Butler, Gibson

December 27th, 2017 at 9:10am CST by Dana Gauruder

Jazz rookie guard Donovan Mitchell intended to return to Louisville for his junior season when tested the draft waters, Tim MacMahon of ESPN reports. Mitchell paid his expenses to the Creative Artists Agency pre-draft camp because he wanted to see what improvements he needed in his game before returning to college, MacMahon continues. Chris Paul and Paul George convinced Mitchell during the camp that he was good enough to be a first-round selection. The Jazz targeted him after an interview during the Chicago pre-draft camp and traded into the lottery to snag him, MacMahon adds.

In other news involving the Northwest Division:

Nuggets coach Michael Malone downplays the feeling that the franchise made a mistake dealing Mitchell, the No. 13 pick, to the Jazz, Eric Woodyard of the Deseret News tweets. “The only thing I can say is obviously we got (forward) Trey Lyles in that deal and Trey Lyles has been great for us,“ Malone told Woodyard. Mitchell doesn’t hold any grudges against Denver for trading him, Kyle Goon of the Salt Lake Tribune tweets.
Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen is the biggest reason why the franchise is wallowing in mediocrity, John Canzano of The Oregonian opines. Allen’s hands-on approach has been a failure, which has led to numerous GM and coaching changes, Canzano continues. The best way for the franchise to move forward is for Allen to let his basketball staff and coaches do their jobs without his constant meddling, Canzano adds.
The acquisitions of Jimmy Butler and Taj Gibson have transformed the Timberwolves, as coach Tom Thibodeau told Jerry Zgoda of the Minneapolis Star Tribune and other reporters. “Just the toughness,” Thibodeau said. “You’re talking about two elite defenders and knowing how important defense is and making the right plays offensively. … You can ask (Butler) to guard any player on the floor and he does it. They don’t take any possessions off and they understand how hard you have to play on every possession. With young guys, sometimes they don’t understand that. You can’t take plays off and you can’t pick and choose when you’re going to play defense.”

Pacific Notes: Ball, Chriss, Len

December 22nd, 2017 at 6:31pm CST by Austin Kent

While Lakers point guard Lonzo Ball has upped his shooting percentages over the course of the last few weeks, his inability to score consistently could prevent him from ever becoming a superstar, Kevin Arnovitz of ESPN writes.

For a number of reasons, ranging from the wonky left-eye-dominant shooting stroke to his instinctive pass-first mentality, Ball may never develop into the scorer that he’d likely need to be in order to have his jersey raised in the Staples Center, as Lakers president of basketball operations Magic Johnson so kindly requested at his introduction press conference.

Arnovitz suggests that while there may be hurdles for Ball to become the next Stephen Curry, he could still have an instrumental impact on the Lakers by becoming their Draymond Green. His feel for the game and style could inspire the team to play the right way, in line with head coach Luke Walton‘s vision, even if he never becomes a dominant offensive weapon.

There’s more from the Pacific Division:

It may be time to temper expectations for Marquese Chriss, Zach Lowe of ESPN writes. The second-year Suns forward hasn’t taken any significant strides in his sophomore season, is weak on defense and doesn’t have a reliable offensive identity.
Backup big man Alex Len has taken a major step forward in 2017/18, carving out a role as a consistently productive reserve for the Suns. As Cody Cunningham of the team’s official site writes, Len leads the league in rebounds per game off of the bench, with 9.5 boards a piece in 25 contests. Suffice it to say, Greg Monroe and Tyson Chandler may be even more expendable than previously thought.
If it’s a “long shot” for the Lakers to sign LeBron James next summer, as has been reported, the franchise would be wise to start targeting Paul George and DeMarcus Cousins, Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report writes.

Southeast Notes: Wizards, Walton Jr., Monk

December 21st, 2017 at 2:57pm CST by Austin Kent

A lack of depth played a role in the Wizards‘ recent loss to a short-handed Cavaliers team, Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington writes. In a matchup where both teams were missing players, the Cavs still managed to hurt them with a capable 10-man rotation.

Hughes writes that the Wizards will be in a better position when John Wall and Markieff Morris completely return to full health but even then it may not be enough to legitimately compete with an elite team like the Cavs.

That presents one question for Washington’s front office; whether the Wizards should make a move prior to the trade deadline considering that a trip to the NBA Finals will almost certainly have to go through Cleveland at some point.

There’s more from the Southeast Division today:

Two-way Heat signee Derrick Walton Jr. has already spent at least 22 days with the big league club, Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel writes. The new contract format permits players to spend 45 games total with the NBA squad and the rest with a team in the G League.
The Hornets have cut back rookie guard Malik Monk‘s role because of his weak defense, Bryan Kalbrosky of Hoops Hype writes. Charlotte has been outscored by 15.4 points per 100 possessions with Monk on the court, worse than any other player in their 12-man rotation.
It’s reasonable to picture Heat president Pat Riley showing an interest in Paul George if he were to be made available by the Thunder. Ira Winderman of the Sun Sentinel discussed the possibility in a question-and-answer feature with readers.

Thunder Not Entertaining Paul George Trades

December 19th, 2017 at 5:21pm CST by ChrisCrouse

The Thunder acquired Paul George and Carmelo Anthony and expected to compete with the Rockets and Warriors atop the Western Conference. Instead, the team is struggling to stay above .500. Yet, despite the underwhelming results, Oklahoma City is still showing no indication that George is on the table in trade talks, Bleacher Report’s Ken Berger hears.

Berger adds that the Thunder understood the risks of acquiring George, who can become a free agent this summer, and they weren’t delusional about his chances of committing to the team long-term.

George gave the Pacers insight into his thinking about his upcoming free agency, something that spurred to the franchise to listen to trade offers. It’s possible that he informs the Thunder that he likely won’t be sticking around should he come to that conclusion, though the situations are dissimilar.

“Well, I think this is a different scenario because it’s our only year together as far as we’re on one-year contracts,” George tells Berger. “I want to put everything into this and see where that takes us. I’m not giving up; I’m not giving in. I want to give this thing everything I have and we’ll see where it goes.”

While George remains open to staying in OKC beyond 2018, it appears the short-term success will play a role in his future decision making.

“We all enjoy playing with one another,” George explained. “This could possibly be me being here for multiple years. But … I’m not going to just throw it in and be like, ‘No, I’m done with this.’ We’ve got a long, long, long season ahead of us. And I’m committed to that.”

One anonymous Western Conference league executive believes George is simply putting on a face to the media.

“George has got to be frustrated,” the executive said. “You can tell by the way he’s playing. He’s not playing with any enthusiasm, not playing with any spunk. He’s kind of playing like a second or third wheel out there.”

The executive was critical of the team’s ball movement and chemistry, adding that the three stars simply do not play well together.

“It’s a three-man circus,” the executive said. “…You can tell by watching them play, it’s out of sync. There’s no rhyme or rhythm to how they play.”

Northwest Notes: Mitchell, Crawford, Thunder

December 17th, 2017 at 11:08pm CST by Austin Kent

The NBA’s highest-scoring rookie is open to the idea of competing in the NBA Dunk Contest, Eric Woodyard of the Deseret News writes. First-year Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell is a an obvious candidate to compete in the Rising Stars Game and has a growing portfolio of highlight-reel dunks.

“It would be great, but I haven’t paid any attention to that whatsoever,” the 21-year-old sensation averaging 18.1 points per game for the Jazz said. “Not even the whole weekend. That’s not even been on my head at all. People bring it up, but I don’t even like to entertain it, I just focus on the task at hand.”

As the February festivities grow closer, and participants formally get offered opportunities to strut their stuff, the Jazz rookie may call upon his own background competing in dunk contests. Woodyard writes that Mitchell once competed in the BallIsLife All-American Game dunk contest and won the Derby Basketball Classic dunk contest in 2015.

There’s more from the Northwest Division:

Veteran guard Jamal Crawford has found adjusting to his role with the Timberwolves challenging, Kent Youngblood of the Star Tribune writes, noting that he didn’t expect to play the fewest minutes per game since his rookie campaign in 2000/01. “You want to actually do it the right way, and play within the framework of the game. But then, if you’re not out there that much, you kind of have to make something happen. So it’s a balance I’m trying to figure out,” Crawford said.
The three stars leading the Thunder may still need to figure out how to play effectively with one another but Paul George denies there being any chemistry issues, Royce Young of ESPN writes. “We’ve never had chemistry problems. We like, and enjoy, playing with one another. It’s never been a chemistry problem,” George said.
The Thunder got a good look at two former teammates when the club traveled to New York City for battle with the Knicks. Enes Kanter and Doug McDermott, who went east in the Carmelo Anthony trade, were eager to match up against their former team and particularly proud to walk away with the victory, Fred Keber of the New York Post writes. “It feels really good,” McDermott said. “This game was kind of about [Anthony] and I thought we did a great job of not letting that distract us and focus on winning the game. And it felt great especially being part of the trade with Enes.“

Cavaliers Notes: Calderon, George, Holland

December 16th, 2017 at 9:23am CST by marksuleymanov

Derrick Rose, Iman Shumpert, and others have tried to hold down the Cavaliers‘ point guard vacancy while Isaiah Thomas recovers from a hip injury. Veteran Jose Calderon, however, has stepped into a prominent role and provided stability, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com writes.

Through 20 games (14 starts), Calderon is averaging 4.3 PPG, 1.9 APG, and 1.3 RPG. Those numbers are hardly eye-catching, but they have been consistent; several members of the roster appreciate the impact that the 13-year NBA veteran has had.

“He’s an oldie but goodie,” Cavaliers forward Kevin Love said. “Whether he’s playing five minutes or 35 minutes, he’s going to be Jose and go out there and knock down shots, play with a lot of poise. He’s been great for us.”

As Fedor writes, Calderon maintains a stellar assist-to-turnover ration in addition to his shooting and defensive skills. That makes him a threat on both ends of the court, which has allowed the Cavaliers to win 12 of 13 games since Calderon was named the starter.

“He settles things down. He’s always been a safety valve for a team,” Dwyane Wade said. “I used to hate when we played against him because he never turned the ball over, he never made risky passes and obviously as he’s been showing lately he can knock open shots down. It’s been good for us. He’s been stable for that position, for that group and for the team.”

Check out other news from the Cavaliers organization below:

As the Thunder struggle to find consistency, Cleveland.com’s Joe Vardon addressed the possibility of the Cavaliers pursuing Paul George as a trade target. Vardon notes that the Cavaliers would be following the Warriors’ model of utilizing four superstar caliber players to win — if they acquired George. The former Pacers All-Star was a Cleveland target this past offseason but ultimately went to Oklahoma City.
Cavaliers guard/forward John Holland, currently signed to a two-way deal, suffered a left shoulder subluxation on Wednesday while playing for the team’s G League affiliate, the Canton Charge, the team announced. Holland will miss 4 to 6 weeks and his status will be updated as appropriate.