The Oklahoma City Thunder know they are going to have at least one MVP-caliber player on their roster for years to come, and there is a growing sense that everything they have done this offseason could go a long way toward helping them retain a second.
David Aldridge of NBA.com reports that Paul George is already “impressed by the culture” he has been a part of since the Thunder acquired him in a trade with the Indiana Pacers. The star swingman thinks highly of how aggressive the Thunder were in getting him and how committed general manager Sam Presti is to assembling a winning roster.
More from Aldridge:
Oklahoma City was not on the list of six teams that George was willing to be traded to before Indiana sent him to the Thunder in July. Now, according to the source, George will give Oklahoma City an audience next summer.
The source says George has been impressed by the culture of the Thunder and how meticulous general manager Sam Presti and the organization are in building the roster and the franchise. George was impressed that the front office “had the (guts),” in the source’s words, to put everything on the line in getting him, and followed it up by getting Anthony without giving up any of the team’s core group. (The Thunder showed who it thought was more important to the team by re-signing defensive hound/offensive liability Andre Roberson for $30 million over three years, while including the offensively potent but defensively sieve-like Enes Kanter in the Anthony trade.)
The Thunder have done anything but give up since Kevin Durant bolted for the Golden State Warriors. They just signed Russell Westbrook to a $205 million extension and traded for Carmelo Anthony. It would be impossible for George to complain about what he has seen.
All along, the belief has been that George will sign with his hometown Los Angeles Lakers when he becomes a free agent next year. Depending on how the Lakers look this season, the only thing they may be able to offer George that the Thunder can’t is youth.
George has already said that Westbrook signing an extension will certainly factor into his free agency decision, and he has to like the reports he is hearing about his new team’s front office. If the Thunder make a deep playoff run in 2018, there’s no reason to think George won’t consider sticking around.
