After rumors swirled in the days leading up to the 2017 NBA draft, Paul George was not traded on Thursday. Pacers GM Kevin Pritchard explained why after the Pacers’ draft night had concluded.
“We have a lot of things still ongoing,” Pritchard told reporters. “Multiple things came up tonight; we looked at a lot of things that included the draft picks.”
Pritchard also said that there were pieces other than draft picks that the Pacers wanted, so they decided to, “stay put and look at everything that’s on the board in the future.”
Pritchard told reporters that the Pacers could get All-Star players in a trade, though that seems unlikely.
A trade for George appears like it could come when we don’t see it coming:
Kevin Pritchard on trade market for Paul George: "There’s enough on the board we feel good about. We could pull the trigger at any time."
— Gregg Doyel (@GreggDoyelStar) June 23, 2017
George reportedly told the team — with a year still left on his contract — that he would not re-sign in 2018 and preferred the Lakers as a landing spot. George has long been linked to his hometown Lakers, so to hear them as his preference wasn’t a surprise.
“It couldn't have come at a worse time,” Pritchard said via ESPN’s Mike Wells. “If we would have known this a few months ago, I think we could have been more prepared.”
Pritchard took a more sour tone in speaking on the situation — which included some misplaced blame:
"I know it's not ideal. But we didn't put ourselves in this situation - he did."
— Miller Time Podcast (@MillerTimePod) June 23, 2017
- Pritchard on Paul George
“For me it was a gut punch,” Pritchard said of learning about George’s intentions. “I mean it was a total gut punch, because we had many conversations over the summer about players that we’d like to add, a little bit of a style we’d like to play.”
Pritchard added, “The message over the summer up until this weekend was, ‘let’s build a winning team.’ So when that came in that he wanted to look at another place, it was a gut punch for us.”
Now the Pacers are in a race to get something in return for George, as opposed to letting him walk for nothing next summer. The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported during the draft that the Pacers and Celtics had engaged in serious talks that gained momentum, but talks ultimately stalled. Prior to the draft, the Pacers and Lakers had initiated trade talks on George.
Pritchard is unhappy with the situation, and it’s understandable. It’s never good to lose a franchise player as talented as George. Still the Pacers, under Pritchard’s predecessor Larry Bird, haven’t been able to put a good roster around George.
If Pritchard wants things to not worsen, he’ll find a way to deal George as opposed to letting him walk next July for nothing as he enters his prime.