Sources: OKC not trading Paul George this season
What's the story?
Oklahoma City Thunder will not be entertaining any trade offers for Paul George ahead of February’s deadline, a league source told Bleacher Report's Ken Berger.
In case you didn't know...
George was traded from the Indiana Pacers this past summer in exchange for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis. He is currently a 19.5 million dollar contract and has the option to opt out of his deal for 2018-19 which would cost 20.7 million dollars.
The heart of the matter...
The Thunder have been struggling this season as they have been lingering around the .500 mark and have been consistently in and out of the playoff picture. But Paul George is not about to give up on them yet and so is the Thunder organization on George.
OKC have the option of trading Paul George for new pieces while they still can and George has the option of walking out from the club leaving them empty handed just like Kevin Durant did last year.
The 4 time All-Star had this to say when asked about the same, "Well, I think this is a different scenario because it's our only year together as far as we're on one-year contracts," George told Berger. "I want to put everything into this and see where that takes us. I'm not giving up; I'm not giving in. I want to give this thing everything I have and we'll see where it goes.
"We all enjoy playing with one another. This could possibly be me being here for multiple years. But ... I'm not going to just throw it in and be like, 'No, I'm done with this.' We've got a long, long, long season ahead of us. And I'm committed to that."
What's next?
The Thunder (15-15) would like to hold onto their current 7th spot in the Western Conference as they play the 9th seeded Utah Jazz (14-17) on Wednesday.
Author's take
There is still time remaining in the season and therefore there is no point for OKC to get new pieces for George mid-way through. It is fair to give the trio at least a whole season to find out if they can exist together or not.