As you know, the 2017 NBA free agent market is officially open and signings have already been crazy. But the biggest news didn’t come from a free agent, it came out of a trade.
After nonstop rumors about what the Boston Celtics will offer for Paul George after they sign Gordon Hayward, life was about to be great for Celtics’ fans. Then it happened. The Celtics and the league were hit with some stunning breaking news. ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne was the first to report that George had been traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder in return for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis.
This is a clear robbery of the Indiana Pacers, which is what led everyone to criticize Danny Ainge and the Celtics. Questions started to fly about if the Thunder were able to get George for so cheap, how come Ainge wasn’t able to pull the trigger with all of his assets?
Actually, Ainge gave the Pacers a great offer, one that is actually better than the Thunder’s offer of Oladipo and Sabonis:
Per @GoodmanESPN, #Celtics offered #Pacers 3 1st Rd picks (not #Nets/#Lakers) picks, Crowder, another starter for George on draft night.
— Adam Kaufman (@AdamMKaufman) July 1, 2017
That’s right, it was reported shortly after the news broke that the Celtics had actually offered 3 first round picks, Jae Crowder, and another starter (assuming it’s Avery Bradley). If you’re Boston, that’s giving up a lot for a potential one-year rental. It seems ridiculous that the Pacers took OKC’s offer over the Celtics’.
People in Boston weren’t the only ones stunned about this deal either:
Asked an Eastern Conference exec to explain why Indiana would go with the OKC offer over others (BOS, CLE, etc.): "No clue ... Bizarre"
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) July 1, 2017
A source told The Boston Herald’s Steve Bulpett: “I can see what OKC is doing, but I really can’t believe this from Indiana’s standpoint. There’s no way you can’t get more than that. And you’ve got to get at least something in the way of draft picks.”
It’s pretty safe to say that the Celtics aren’t the only one’s who are stunned about this trade deal, and if you’re a Pacers fan, you have to be pretty livid right now, as this is a pretty bad way to start a rebuild.
Criticism aside, Shelburne told ESPN that we will get more clarity about why Indiana decided to go with the Thunder’s offer over Cleveland and Boston.
The best explanation of all of this so far came from ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “A source familiar with the Cavs thinking told ESPN that the Paul George trade to Oklahoma City further solidifies Cleveland as the class of the conference. “The East continues to get worse,” the source said. Also, there was a belief by the Cavs that Indiana general manager Kevin Pritchard, when it came down to it, felt more comfortable shipping George to a Western Conference team rather than an East rival — Boston and Cleveland both made countless inquiries — that could continue to stand in the Pacers’ way as they start a rebuild.”
Paul George heading West to Oklahoma City is a killer for the Celtics. They can no longer use a superteam pitch to help persuade Hayward to head East to Boston. But no blame should be put on Ainge. It just seems like Pritchard did not want to deal with an Eastern Conference rival, which makes sense, but it still hurts.
This trade actually affects the Eastern Conference as a whole. As the West gets stronger, the East gets a lot weaker. In fact, it’s so bad that there is now only one player left in the Eastern Conference that is in the top 14 in ESPN’s #NBARank, and that is obviously LeBron James.
After Ainge and the Celtics did all they could to acquire George and it was still not enough, they set their focus on the top free agent in Hayward, who is meeting in Boston on Sunday.
Next: Silver Lining if the Celtics Strike out in Free Agency
This may be a hard one for Celtics fans to take, but it’s no reason to stop trusting what Ainge is doing. He still has tons of assets and who knows, maybe they can all be unloaded for another superstar who becomes available in the future.