George signs four-year extension with Pacers
By CHRIS GOFF
ISL Correspondent
Paul George became the Pacers’ franchise player.
He’ll soon be paid like it.
George signed a four-year contract extension with the Pacers on Wednesday, with a player option for a fifth year. The deal, which potentially keeps him in Indiana through 2018-19, is believed to include a salary at the maximum level. George will first play out this season under the final year of his rookie deal, which is scheduled to pay $3.3 million. After that, George’s salary will reflect that of an All-Star, approaching $19 million a year.
“My expectation is he’ll be one of the top players in the league,” team president Larry Bird said.
Don’t bother suggesting George might press to try to live up to the money.
“Pressure makes character and builds guys,” George said. “I am open to the pressure. I want the pressure. It was a no-brainer. My heart was really here. I couldn’t see myself anywhere else.”
After intermittent talks this summer between Bird and George’s agent, Aaron Mintz, negotiations heated up this week, aiming for a conclusion prior to the start of training camp on Saturday. The extension prevents George, a three-year veteran, from becoming a restricted free agent next July.
“It’s love here,” said George, a Los Angeles native. “Indiana is my home. I see myself as our team’s guy. Whatever it is, it has to start with me.”
Bird had said the Pacers would exercise their right to match any offer and retain George even if he did hit the open market. With a pact done well in advance of the NBA’s Oct. 31 deadline for rookie deal extensions, that won’t be necessary.
The precise worth of George’s contract will not be known until the next salary cap is set in July 2014, but based on some cap forecasts, it could be valued at about $100 million over five years.
Each franchise has the right to give one “designated player” a five-year maximum extension on his rookie contract. The player option for a fifth season means George was signed using that provision. For the life of George’s contract, the Pacers may not give another “designated player” extension.
Selected 10th overall out of Fresno State in the 2010 draft, George, 23, is perhaps one of the most athletic players in team history. At 6-foot-9 and 225 pounds, with speed and leaping ability, George is capable of most any feat on the court.
George didn’t arrive to much fanfare, but he’s blossomed into one of the top small forwards in the league – a lockdown defender and explosive scorer. His stated goal is to win an MVP award. He’s already been named third team All-NBA and the league’s Most Improved Player.
“I feel like I’m nowhere close to being the player I want to be,” George said.
If he makes All-NBA next season, or shocks the world as MVP, George could qualify for a 30 percent max contract, if that possibility was negotiated into the extension. The Pacers did not disclose terms. Attempts to reach Mintz were unsuccessful.
George averaged a team-leading 17.4 points and added 7.6 rebounds and 4.1 assists last season. His defensive exploits, fueled by length and agility, were the best part of his game, often driving opponents crazy as they attempted just to find a clean look. George helped the Pacers finish second in the NBA in points allowed at 90.7 per game.
George’s love affair with guarding his man began under former coach Jim O’Brien, a man who wouldn’t show a rookie much love unless he could play acceptable defense. So in his first two years in the NBA, instead of hunting shots, George sought stops.
That path led him to shape a more raw archetype of LeBron James, a two-way force who – in addition to being the world’s best player – also happens to play for the team that knocked George’s out of the playoffs in each of the past two seasons.
A year ago, following a six-game defeat to Miami in the second round, George got James’ attention by claiming that the Pacers actually had a better team even if the Heat had better players. The two then went head to head in a competitive Eastern Conference finals in May, with George scoring 28 points in Game 6 to keep Indiana alive. James, who acknowledged George as an “unbelievable talent,” finished off the Pacers with 32 points in a Game 7 victory.
With the lucrative contracts belonging to Roy Hibbert, David West and George Hill, Indiana has spent heavily to keep its core intact. But the team brass clearly considered George its cornerstone. He’ll welcome the burden, he says, of finding a way to finally slay James and Miami, the two-time defending champion.
Now that his deal is done, George will be expected to grow into the type of star who can lead the franchise to its second NBA Finals appearance.
“We are all-in right now,” Bird said. “He’s the face of the franchise.”
