Paul George trade: Three reasons it could come back to haunt LA

If it implodes with George, LA ruins their chance at other free agents

Don’t be fooled into thinking that Paul George is it for the Lakers. They expect to make a run for LeBron James next summer, with others in mind for the foreseeable future.

In particular, one name that might surprise people is Russell Westbrook.

Los Angeles still needs to see if their Lonzo Ball experiment works. But if they don’t have a strong presence at point guard by then, Westbrook could also become a target of theirs.

The previous front office for the team had a hard time keeping the attention of key free agents almost every summer. They managed to miss out on LaMarcus Aldridge, Carmelo Anthony, DeMar DeRozan, and others.

Losing on Paul George, or him coming to LA and it not working out, will bring them right back to square one.

On top of that, depending on what parts of the young core they give to Indiana in a potential deal, they wouldn’t have much of a strong core to build around again.

And then looking back, they’ll have the D’Angelo Russell to Brooklyn trade to thank for that.