A move that caught the basketball world by surprise was the
Indiana Pacers trading Paul George
to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Victor
Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis.
Paul George leaving the Pacers wasn’t a huge shock, but Oklahoma City wasn’t a
destination that was considered a likely landing spot for him. With George now
on their roster, the Thunder have a legitimate superstar to pair with Russell Westbrook. The question is, do
they have enough to contend for a championship in such a loaded Western
Conference?
In order to answer this question, it needs to be understood
that while the Golden State Warriors remain the clear cut favorites to come out
of the Western Conference next season, it is not clear who should be expected
to face them in the Western Conference Finals. Even though free agency is still
going on, we already can put the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder in
the conversation based on the trades that they have recently made. The San
Antonio Spurs we also can’t leave out due to the fantastic season that they
just had.
In addition to the Rockets, Thunder, and Spurs, the
Minnesota Timberwolves are also making big moves and the Utah Jazz, if they can
hang on to Gordon Hayward, will be another force to be reckoned with as well.
The bottom line is the Western Conference will be loaded next season and the
race to the conference finals will be a battle.
What the Thunder have in their favor is they have the 2017
NBA MVP in Russell Westbrook, who averaged 31.6 points, 10.7 rebounds, and 10.4
assists per game last season, the first triple-double average for a single
season since Oscar Robertson did it
way back in the day. Westbrook is arguably the best player in the NBA and when
you pair him with a guy like Paul George, who averaged 23.7 points and 6.6
rebounds per game last season, you got yourself a team that can do some serious
damage.
While we are still yet to see how the rest of free agency
plays out, it’s already clear that the Oklahoma City Thunder will be a serious
contender next season. With Kevin Durant
leaving for Golden State, the Thunder had to find another elite swingman to
pair with Russell Westbrook and Paul George is as good of an option as anyone
out there. While they probably still need to make one more major move in order
to give the Warriors a serious scare, the foundation to contend is definitely
in place.
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