Pacers and Thunder are up 2-0 in their respective NBA Conference Finals Series. Perhaps with the NBA Finals clash, Paul George is why that’s happening.
The Oklahoma City Thunders rose 2-0 comfortably with the Minnesota Timber Wolves in the Western Conference Finals.
The late Heroic is on the hellish side from Tyrees Halliburton, but the Indiana Pacers took a 2-0 lead against the New York Knicks.
Aside from the unlikely comebacks from the Wolves and Knicks, matchups for the NBA Finals are set. OKC and Indiana will fight it for the ultimate award.
And if this were to be achieved, one of the NBA stars who were no longer on either team helped ensure that both franchises had reached this point.
Paul George rose to prominence with the Pacers as a superstar while he was there. He spent several successful seasons with Thunder and finished third in the MVP polls in 2018-19.
And he left both teams in trade, but what they got in return with him allowed both franchises to rebuild their roster and become contenders for a serious championship.
In the summer of 2017, the Pacers traded George for lightning in exchange for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis.
They developed both, and eventually Sabonis became an important piece of the Halliburton trade with King Sacramento. Hari is currently the master of Indiana and leads the final.
As for OKC Thunder, they won two good seasons from PG before trading for the Los Angeles Clippers. This led to the 2024-25 MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and many first-round draft picks.
One of those picks became Jalen Williams. SGA and JDUB are the first and second options in one of the league’s best teams. Thunder was clever. He secured 3 MVP with the 2008 pick.
He’s not a former player, but PG still has a maximum contract from the Sixers. However, reports suggest that Philadelphia is about to trade George after the season failed.
Jake Fisher suggests that the Six will not break up the Embiid George duo, but it’s hard to imagine what they could achieve at this current core.
The team has a third overall pick. If they choose to package it with a 35 year old child, they can potentially play with Embiid and Maxie another big star.
If Pacer and Lightning are any examples, that’s what Philadelphia should do if they want to run the championship right away.