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With the Thunder and Pacers both up 2-0 in their conference finals matchups, it's time to take a peek into how we got to a potential NBA Finals matchup between these teams.
Believe it or not, the reason both teams could be in the NBA Finals this postseason could be thanks to one current 76ers player.
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Why did Paul George determine the potential Thunder/Pacers NBA Finals clash?
For those who don't know, Paul George was playing some of the best basketball in his career with both the Thunder and Pacers during his time playing on each team.
George was an MVP candidate with the Thunder and was a young, promising superstar who unfortunately suffered a bad leg injury that kept him out for close to a year in 14-15.
George was traded in the 2017 offseason to the Pacers in return for Domantas Sabonis and Victor Oladipo.
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Oladipo blossomed into an all-star in Indiana, but unfortunately also suffered a horrific injury that ended his prime much sooner than he would have wished for.
With Sabonis, he became one of the more underrated centers in the league and was later used in a trade for Tyrese Haliburton.
As we have seen over the past month, Haliburton has become the guy in Indiana and is the reason why they have gone on this incredible run.
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Fast forward to the 2019 offseason, Paul George was traded to the Clippers just two years after being traded out of Indiana.
Who was the main player that the Thunder received for George? Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
SGA was the 24-25 NBA MVP and has brought so much excitement back to basketball in OKC over the past few seasons, as he has become the franchise player.
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SGA wasn't the only major return for OKC, among the several draft picks they got in the deal was Jalen Williams who they drafted a few years after the trade.
Williams was an all-star in the 24-25 NBA season, and was just named to all-NBA third-team for the first time in his career.
Both teams have coincidentally benefited from a domino effect of moves and could find themselves playing for a championship in the NBA Finals, and to see who benefitted from moving on from star player Paul George the most.
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