Crazy day in the NBA offseason has major implications for Utah Jazz

Paul George to the Thunder

Without a doubt the most shocking move of the day was the trade that sent Indiana Pacers star Paul George to the Oklahoma City Thunder. The PG trade was all but a guarantee, however, even though he has made his intentions of joining the Los Angeles Lakers in free agency of 2018 clear and will likely be a one-year rental, it was still extremely surprising to see how little the Pacers got in return for their best player.

The Thunder parted only with Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis who were sent to the Pacers in exchange for Paul George. It’s hard to believe that the likes of the Boston Celtics or even the Cleveland Cavaliers in a three-team trade involving Kevin Love couldn’t have come up with a better package than that.

Nevertheless, it turned out that Indy was left with no additional draft picks and without their star player, hardly an ideal recipe for success for a team in a rebuild. I could write pages and pages on what this means for the future of the Pacers, Thunder and Paul George himself, but instead let’s focus on what this means for the Jazz, more specifically for Gordon Hayward.

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First of all, the Boston Celtics’ pipe dream of creating a super team with Paul George and Gordon Hayward is history. Not to mention, another star target of the Celtics, Blake Griffin, recommitted to the Los Angeles Clippers meaning that Danny Ainge and Co. have officially missed out on every star they’ve reportedly pursued, with only Gordon Hayward left available.

Whether or not joining a Paul George-led Celtics team was really that desirable to Hayward is purely up to speculation, but as the Jazz look to make further deals to improve, the Celtics have thus far largely stayed pat which could have implications on Hayward’s decision. Boston surely isn’t looking any more appealing than it was at the end of the season, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t still a favorable landing spot.

Furthermore, with Jimmy Butler joining the Minnesota Timberwolves on draft night, Paul George now heading to the Thunder and the Denver Nuggets looking to make some major upgrades, there’s no denying just how stacked the Northwest Division could be to begin next season.

Some have surmised that the prospect of facing George and Butler four times each next year could drive Hayward to look to go east, but personally I think that given the kind of competitor he is, he wouldn’t be afraid to rise to the challenge and stay put to go head-to-head with those guys.

Hayward meets with the Miami Heat today, the Boston Celtics tomorrow and then the Utah Jazz on Monday. Then hopefully it won’t take him long to make his final decision. I’m certain that much more will happen – both on the Jazz’s front and around the league as a whole – between now and then that could further alter his decision.

Next: Utah Jazz: Trading for Ricky Rubio a brilliant move by Dennis Lindsey

One thing is clear, though, no matter what the Jazz do this summer, determining whether or not the organization had a successful offseason will hinge on whether or not Gordon Hayward stays. They’ve already traded twice to move up in the draft and made a move for a younger, more affordable point guard with high potential and they still may not be done.

At the end of the day though, all that remains to be seen is whether all their moves will be enough to retain their All-Star.