The Golden State Warriors already are a mile ahead of everyone else in the NBA, and they apparently were in discussions to land yet another superstar this offseason.
Multiple teams reportedly were in on the Paul George sweepstakes before the Indiana Pacers traded him to the Oklahoma City Thunder, and the star swingman told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on Thursday that the Warriors were one of those teams.
But George doesn’t believe the NBA would have allowed such a trade to happen, even if Indiana did choose Golden State.
“Yeah, I think that would have been a Chris Paul to L.A. situation where they got denied at that trade,” George told Wojnarowski, via the Norman Transcript’s Fred Katz. “Yeah, I was aware of it. I would’ve looked forward to it, of just being in a good situation and a chance to compete for a championship. But it didn’t happen. It’s still fun to team up with a special talent and have a chance to compete against that team.”
For those unaware, Paul very nearly was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2011, but former NBA commissioner David Stern vetoed the trade. Instead, Paul went to the Los Angeles Clippers, and he’s since been dealt to the Houston Rockets.
But perhaps the larger issue with the George trade proposal was that the Pacers wanted Klay Thompson in return, according to Wojnarowski during the same interview, per Katz, and the Warriors declined.
Thumbnail photo via Trevor Ruszkowski/USA TODAY Sports Images
