Lakers rumors: Why the Lakers are the most intriguing for Paul George

1. The Lakers have the best financial status in the NBA

From a purely individual standpoint, the Los Angeles Lakers cannot offer Paul George as much money as the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Thunder can offer George a contract up to five years and up to $175 million. Any other team in the NBA can offer George a four-year contract up to $130 million.

Annually, this isn’t a massive difference. The Thunder can offer an average of $35.1 a year while any other team can offer an average of $32.6 million a year.

While I don’t mean to downplay how much $2.5 million is, it likely will not make or break what George does in the future. If the reports are true that he is indeed walking away, the Lakers present the best financial status this offseason.

The Lakers have the most cap space heading into the summer and it is not even close. The Chicago Bulls are next with $41 million in space, $20 million less than the Lakers.

This is more than enough for the Lakers to offer George a max deal, something no other team outside of Oklahoma City may be willing to do. This still would leave almost $30 million in space to extend Julius Randle and add any more depth pieces.

And while the Lakers may not be all the way there in terms of title contention this upcoming season, it is only going to get better as time goes on for George in LA.