A couple of Paul Goerge thoughts...
1. Credit the Thunder who clearly understood what factors would matter to George & surely worked those angles in the past 12 months.
2. George has always come off as a “pleaser” who deeply cares about how he’s perceived - especially after he’s been somewhere. Even in Indy, my guess is he saw him doing them a solid by requesting the trade in the manner he did so they could get pieces back.
3. With that, I would not be surprised if he did not want to let down the OKC people &, even more, Russ after actually being there.
4. I actually think points 2 & 3 are why LA did not get a meeting. I think George would have put himself in a tough situation if he met w/ Magic. Like, he might have been swayed off his position to return & then would have had to either tell LAL no or tell Russ no. Tough spot.
5. Lastly, I wonder if LA’s interest in Kawhi swayed George at all. If LA got LeBron & Kawhi, George would instantly become a 3rd option. I think he could live w/ being a #2, but not a #3. So, he can be the #2 in OKC and get his $ too.
Anyways, like I said yesterday, let George live. He’ll catch boos in LA & I think you can quibble w/ how he handled this if you’re an LA fan, but he made a decision for himself & I don’t begrudge him.
