The Pacers’ Paul George trade was just sad

Paul George’s trade value cratered from the moment it was reported that he wouldn’t be re-signing with the Indiana Pacers when he became a free agent in 2018. From that moment on, the Pacers had no choice but to trade him.

That can be true, but so can this: the actual trade that the Pacers made for George was just sad.

On Friday, hours before free agency officially began, the Pacers dealt George to the Oklahoma City Thunder in an absolute stunner. In return, Indiana receives the bloated contract of Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis, a nice young prospect. And ... no more and’s. That’s it. The Pacers couldn’t even get a draft pick.

There’s more at place here, of course. The danger for any team trading for George is that he might leave them in 2018, too. He has expressed that his preferred destination would be the Los Angeles Lakers, who have young players, off-court opportunities, and the ability to sign another star next year — maybe even LeBron James. For Oklahoma City, that’s the danger that they’re risking in this trade.

Still, while there may have been a ceiling on George’s trade value, the Pacers did a terrible job leveraging multiple team’s interest in George against each other. Cleveland wanted him, although it would’ve taken a third team like Denver. Washington was reportedly dangling Otto Porter Jr. in a sign and trade. Houston was in talks with Indiana, and there was a chance that the Lakers would’ve have traded for George early to make sure that his interest didn’t fade.

Instead, the Pacers got ... this. Oladipo is 25, but his NBA value is pretty set as a solid scorer who doesn’t do much else. Sabonis started most of the year, but the Thunder traded for Taj Gibson to displace him and he shot under 40 percent from the field. (39.9 percent, but still.) His ceiling is probably a solid stretch four, which is a nice player to theoretically put next to Indiana’s budding star, Myles Turner, but hardly unique to this league.

No picks. Nothing else. For a player who might be top-10 in the league at his best, even if it might be a one-year rental.

We don’t know the specifics that were happening behind the scenes. This theory is possible.

Still, the biggest flaw seems clear: the Pacers didn’t have to cash in on this offer from the Thunder yet. Oklahoma City might have bluffed, but George is the best player they could have acquired this summer. The Oladipo and Sabonis offer would have stayed on the table, and maybe Indiana could have squeezed a protected pick out of it if the Thunder started squirming on, say, July 3.

(We need a quick sidebar about the Thunder’s pick. Yes, their 2018 and 2020 picks were spoken for, so they couldn’t have traded one of their own picks. But they do have an unprotected second rounder from Chicago through the Taj Gibson trade, which should end up in the top-35 next year. They also could have pushed Oklahoma City to find them a pick somewhere from a third team at the expense of another fringe prospect like Jerami Grant. At the very least, not getting that Chicago pick seems unconscionable.)

Likewise, if the Pacers had held out, they could have made a deal with the Celtics. Boston had the most assets on the market by a long shot, reportedly even offering the 2017 Nets pick that turned into the No. 1 selection at last season’s trade deadline that Indiana turned down. In retrospect, that was an enormous mistake by outgoing president Larry Bird.

But new Pacers general manager Kevin Pritchard seemingly doubled down on Friday, not waiting on an offer that the Boston Herald, Boston Globe and ESPN all reported was something like Jae Crowder, Avery Bradley, and three lower first-round picks.

Boston may have been holding that offer until Gordon Hayward made his free-agent decision, but again, it’s not like Oklahoma City’s trade would have gone anywhere. Worse, we think we know the reasoning for why the Pacers were nervous to wait on the Celtics: he was worried about sending him to an Eastern Conference opponent.

Oh come on.

The Pacers have Myles Turner, yes, but that’s about it. They lost Jeff Teague to Minnesota already and C.J. Miles is likely on his way out, too. It should be rebuilding time. Go get a top pick and pair Luka Doncic or Michael Porter Jr. next to Turner, OK? If you’re losing a lot of games for a couple seasons, who cares where George gets traded? He might even depart voluntarily to the Western Conference so he can be in Los Angeles, too, remember?

The Pacers were in a regrettable position ever since George told them he wouldn’t be back, but they could have gotten more for him than they did. Even if we didn’t know what the Celtics were offering, it’s just common sense that there must have been a better deal than Oladipo and Sabonis.

Instead, after holding onto George through the draft, and then hanging onto him in the days leading up to free agency, the Pacers decided to play hot potato at the last second and tossed George away.

Oklahoma City is thankful, but Indiana just made their upcoming rebuild even trickier for no reason at all.