Los Angeles Lakers: Most entertaining games of the 2018-2019 season
By Jason Reed
Oklahoma City Thunder @ Los Angeles Lakers, Jan. 2, 2019 — ESPN
The Los Angeles Lakers will not see the Oklahoma City next season until the turn of the calendar year on January 2, 2019. This game is not intriguing because it is the first game of a new year and it is not necassarily the matchup that makes it must-watch.
The matchup against the Warriors, Rockets and Eastern Conference teams such as the Philadelphia 76ers or Milwaukee Bucks may be more entertaining from an on-court perspective. What makes this matchup so great is it will be Paul George’s first time playing the Lakers in Los Angeles after a summer that was supposed to fulfill a promise.
To be fair, Goerge never came out and openly said he was going to play for the Los Angeles Lakers. However, over a year of speculation lead many to believe that it was a surefire conclusion that George was going to join his hometown Lakers and create a super team alongside James.
Those sentiments were strengthened after the Thunder were eliminated in the first round of the NBA Playoffs by the Utah Jazz. The George, Russell Westbrook partnership did not seem like a great one.
However, with unfinished business on the table, George opted to return to the Oklahoma City Thunder and will likely get a similar treatment from Laker fans that Thunder fans gave to Kevin Durant upon his return to OKC.
Is this fair? Not entirely. George never left the Lakers, never committed to the Lakers and is allowed to make decisions based on his desires and his happiness.
That won’t stop the barrage of chants and the chorus of boos that will be showered at George as he makes his arrival to what many thought would be his home court.