Indiana Pacers Trade Rumors: Team Not Looking to Shop Paul George

The Indiana Pacers reportedly have no interest in trading forward Paul George. The news comes shortly after speculation regarding the 26-year-old superstar’s future with the Pacers.

The Indiana Pacers have no reported interest of shipping off Paul George any time soon.

In other news, water is wet…

It had been originally reported in early May that the Los Angeles Lakers were willing to trade their 2016 first-round draft pick ‘and more’ in order to acquire George, a Los Angeles native.

Unless you consider yourself a die-hard Lakers fan, if you have even half of a brain you would know that Larry bird would be absolutely nuts to trade away his team’s best player.

Okay, okay. Perhaps Bird is nuts. He did fire his most successful head coach in Frank Vogel only to hire assistant coach Nate McMillan to be Vogel’s replacement — shortly after preaching how he wants a new voice and offensively-minded coach running his team. McMillan is neither of those.

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But still, Bird isn’t that nuts. The Lakers are a dumpster fire of a franchise at the moment and have very little to offer for such a high-caliber player that is George. Outside of their 2nd-overall pick in a fairly weak draft, the only other asset that the Lakers have that could be appealing is if they included point guard D’Angelo Russell in the trade — which is a reach.

Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders shared some insight on the trade rumors on Wednesday:

"[I’m] not sure where the trading [George] thing came from but was laughed off the phone when I asked a Pacers source if it was a consideration. The Pacers are absolutely not looking at moving [George], unless the deal returned Kevin Durant.”"

So there you have it, hopeful Lakers fans. It looks as if George will remain a Pacer until his contract expires and he becomes an unrestricted free agent in 2019. Even when his contract is in fact up, one can believe that the Pacers would do almost everything in their power to keep George with the team — even though history has shown that it’s not guaranteed, especially in today’s NBA.

Since entering the league in 2010 when the Pacers drafted him with the 10th selection in the draft, George has been a pivotal piece for the Pacers, and has helped turn around a franchise that was amongst some of the league’s worst since Reggie Miller had retired in 2005.

Next: Indiana Pacers Draft Rumors: Team Looking at Thon Maker

With a rising star in Myles Turner to play alongside George, the two can quickly become the face of this Pacers team. Bird will have a great deal of cap space to work with this summer, so it is also possible that the Pacers could lure in some big-name free agent off the market to help get the team back to the top of the Eastern Conference.

So pump the brakes on the trade talks, take a deep breath and wipe off the sweat. Paul George isn’t going anywhere.

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