Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Reports: George to OKC
The Indiana Pacers are sending four-time All-Star forward Paul George to the Oklahoma City Thunder, according to multiple reports Friday night.
Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis are headed to Indiana in the deal, according to the reports.
ESPN first reported the news Friday and USA Today confirmed.
George’s future at Indiana has been uncertain for some time. He reportedly informed the team earlier this year that he planned to leave next summer as an unrestricted free agent and sign with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Now the Thunder have two of the NBA’s top 15 players in George and reigning
MVP Russell Westbrook, both of whom will be free agents next summer.
Last season, George averaged a career-high
23.7 points on 46 percent shooting. He averaged 6.6 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game.
Meanwhile, Indiana gets a young big man in Sabonis to pair with emerging center Myles Turner, and the Pacers also receive a young shooting guard from Indiana University in Oladipo as a fixture in their backcourt for the next four seasons.
In other NBA news as free agency begins, Blake Griffin has canceled his meetings with the Phoenix Suns and Denver Nuggets and will reportedly return to the L.A. Clippers on a five-year max deal.
The Utah Jazz received Ricky Rubio from the Minnesota Timberwolves for the Oklahoma City Thunder’s 2018 protected firstround pick, absorbing him into their remaining cap space for the 2016-2017 season before it expired at midnight. Second, they are about to be hit with a big offer for restricted free agent forward Joe Ingles.
Ingles, 29, seems set to receive an offer in the four-year, $60 million range from the Orlando Magic, according to multiple sources. Ingles was an underrated part of Utah’s success, averaging 7.1 points in 24 minutes per game while shooting 44.1 percent from three-point range. He’s also close with Gordon Hayward, Utah’s star free agent who seems like a pretty strong possibility to leave at this point.
The Boston Celtics and Miami Heat are expected to get meetings with Hayward
in the next 48 hours before he meets with the Jazz and makes his decision, unless more teams get into the mix.
Rubio being traded, meanwhile, clears the way for Jeff Teague to likely sign with the Timberwolves when free agency began at 11:01 p.m. Central.
The Wolves had been looking to move away from Rubio for some time, and they’ve been rumored for just as long to have interest in Teague, who spent last season with the Indiana Pacers after being acquired from the Atlanta Hawks in a trade last summer. There’s also the possibility that Minnesota could get into the Kyle Lowry sweepstakes, but it seems as if Minnesota would rather turn its significant cap space into a pair of impact players instead of one large payment to a front-line player.
ESPN reports that Warriors forward Andre Iguodala is planning a meeting with the San Antonio Spurs.
Earlier Friday, ESPN’s Zach Lowe tweeted that Golden State and the former Finals MVP had no plans to meet concerning his free agency.
The Chicago Bulls always were expected to waive Rajon Rondo before the start of free agency, and they did so Friday afternoon after failing to find a taker for him in a trade.
This clears another $11 million in cap space off the Bulls’ books, which they will be able to use as a dumping ground for other teams trying to unload bad salary from around the NBA.
Rondo becomes the latest addition to what is going to be a crowded and complicated point guard market this summer.
Lowry, Jrue Holiday, Teague, Derrick Rose, George Hill, Darren Collison and Rondo are just some of the point guards available, and there aren’t many teams that are in need of their services.
The Brooklyn Nets are expected to chase shooting guard J.J. Redick, sources say.