While most NBA eyes were aimed and focused on LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard, the Oklahoma City Thunder snuck into the picture in the final hours before NBA free agency and shattered the idea of a Laker dream team by coming to terms with star Paul George on a four-year, $137 million deal to stay with the Thunder.
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The widely thought of third man in the Laker big-three scenario has made that version of a dream team impossible and if the Lakers are still looking at James coming over in free agency and Leonard in trade, they'll have to find another small forward to round out the group since George will be staying in OKC alongside Russel Westbrook and trying to win a championship for a team that has been unable to take home the NBA's greatest prize.
Adrian Wojnarowski was one of the first NBA insiders to report the news but a video went viral on Twitter of George and Westbrook at a party together late Saturday where George said, "If y'all didn't quite get it, let me say it again, I'm here to stay. I'm here to stay."
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How this impacts the Lakers chase for two of the markets other biggest stars is unknown but one has to imagine it won't take Magic Johnson and the Lakers eyes off the big prize which is LeBron in Los Angeles. James has said that he'll make his decision not based upon any other player's choice, but it has to be somewhat of a letdown if James was considering the Lakers thinking George was going to be part of the equation.
The world already knows Kawhi has his sights set on the Lakers organization and just the two players, LeBron and Kawhi (if both wind up there), would immediately make them a team to beat in the Western Conference. That said, without George, things just got a little more difficult when it comes to being on par with teams like the Golden State Warriors or Houston Rockets who will once again be favorites to win it all and may be looking to add in free agency.
For Oklahoma, this is huge. They're able to keep George and Westbrook together— two players who have become great friends— and recently found out Carmelo Anthony was opting back into his contract with the team.
To make things even more interesting, news broke on Saturday night as well that Chris Paul had re-upped with the Houston Rockets on a huge four-year, $160M Max Contract, DeAndre Jordan is going to sign with the Mavericks for one year at $24 million and Kevin Durant is sticking with Golden State on a two-year max deal.
Can the Lakers land their other two big targets? Fans are likely to find out starting Sunday.