LeBron James always wanted Paul George and chased him reportedly in Cleveland!
What gets lost in all of this hysteria was the major part of the Lakers growth plan that did not happen was the failed signing of Paul George.
There are many Lakers fans that blamed Magic Johnson for not going out and trading for George when he told Indiana that he was not going to sign the super max deal and wanted a trade. The general consensus not just by the Lakers, but the NBA in general was he was going to the Lakers at the time.
"“Rival executives will argue that his value is depressed because of the alive-and-well rumor he is headed for the Lakers, knowing full well that the Thunder don’t want to lose a superstar for the second time in three summers after Kevin Durant. The lack of leverage, if nothing else,could compel the Thunder to see this through until the summertime."
Then his recruitment went to late night television on Jimmy Kimmel.
I mean with all of this evidence and the Magic Johnson “Wink, wink” it seemed clear why the Lakers would not back up the moving van and unload all of their assets if George actually said that he would like to join the Lakers.
Oh, that’s right he did, like in his own produced documentary!
The Lakers, on the mixed signals of George, chose to stand pat and not trade any assets, assuming he would sign in the offseason. He didn’t sign with the Lakers and instead stayed in OKC.
Then the rest was history.
Then Paul George goes on the Chris Pfaff’s Short Story Long podcast talking that the Lakers were pissed.
"“L.A. was pissed at me,” he said. “I didn’t give Magic Johnson a meeting which I understand. But at that point, I knew I wanted to give it another shot. I didn’t want to prolong it and waste people’s time.”"
At the time, I didn’t think anything of it. Even though Paul George is putting up MVP numbers, he is known to disappear at playoff time. So I thought the comment was petty. Maybe there was something to it.
It’s not like a LeBron led team did not try to land Paul George before.
Kyrie Irving was supposed to be a causality previously, according to Jackie MacMullan.
"In mid-June, shortly before Griffin left, team and league sources confirm, the Cavs explored a three-way deal with Phoenix and Indiana that would have shipped Irving and Frye to the Suns and brought Eric Bledsoe and Paul George to Cleveland. The Suns resisted, unwilling to part with their No. 4 pick, which they planned to use to draft Josh Jackson. No formal offer was made by any of the teams, but news of this potential transaction stung Irving, who, sources close to him say, became convinced that LeBron’s camp, which also represents Bledsoe, orchestrated the trade talks."
See the key points? Paul George and LeBron’s camp, which also represents Bledsoe. Think this is not an orchestration?