Minutes before Paul George denied that tampering had occurred between him and the Lakers, before he talked about the hurt feelings in Indiana over his telling the organization he wanted to play for the Lakers and before he shared what it meant to have a relationship with Kobe Bryant, Russell Westbrook offered his plan to keep George in Oklahoma City.
“Sales pitch is gonna be when we win a championship,” Westbrook said. “Beat that pitch.”
The Lakers (11-25) will play Oklahoma City (20-17) on Wednesday night in the Thunder’s first game at Staples Center this season. They’ll face one player who took himself off the free agent market for next season — Westbrook, who signed a $205-million extension for five years over the summer. They’ll face another player they’d love to snare in free agency — George.
George grew up in Palmdale, so coming to Los Angeles is like coming home. He sees family whenever he’s here, and George insisted that none of them tries to recruit him in advance of next summer’s free agency. The Lakers will target George with some of the salary cap space they have hoarded. They refused to sign any contracts that lasted longer than one year in the summer of 2017 in order to preserve their 2018 cap.
The saga between George and the Lakers began in earnest over the summer when George’s agent, Aaron Mintz, told the Pacers that George planned to sign with the Lakers as a free agent in the summer of 2018. The Pacers set to work trying to trade George so as not to lose him for nothing, but they didn’t want to send him to his preferred destination.
“Front office is gonna do what’s best for them,” George said Wednesday morning, with a shrug. “I wanted to do what was best for me. It wasn’t like I was pinpointing, telling them they had to trade me there. It was just a preference; I wanted to go. I wanted to come home. Simple as that.
“Both sides could’ve done a better job of communication and going forward and taking steps to where we were both comfortable getting what we wanted to get out of it. But it was definitely feelings involved with how it went down.”
And while George was still telling friends he wanted to play for the Lakers, the Pacers traded him to Oklahoma City for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis.
Meanwhile, the Pacers filed tampering charges against the Lakers. In September, the NBA fined the Lakers $500,000, its largest tampering fine. The league’s release said the fine stemmed from an improper conversation between Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka and Mintz.
George said Wednesday that the Pacers were upset with communication between him and Lakers associate head coach Brian Shaw, who coached George in Indiana.
“The Pacers thought there was more depth of him trying to recruit me, which it wasn’t,” George said. “The only thing me and B-Shaw ever spoke about was fishing and challenging each other on fishing trips. B-Shaw has way, way, way better class than to try to recruit me.”
George had a gathering Tuesday night at a home he owns locally with his parents, cousins, family and friends — the people who always come see to him when he’s in town. Most of his acquaintances here know better than to ask for tickets to Lakers games, he said.
“I always want to play good at home,” George said. “I always want to play good in front of this crowd here, in front of this fan base — because it’s more than just fans here. It’s family, it’s friends. So yeah, I always want to play my best when I come to L.A.”
Follow Tania Ganguli on Twitter @taniaganguli
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