Thunder sign Paul George to max-extension.

Daniela and her baby can rest assured: George got his max-deal.

When he was acquired last summer to replace LeBron James as the face of the Thunder franchise, every single CSL fan knew George would, sooner or later, sign an extension with his new team.
Today, OKC announced another very expected move, handling George a max-extension for 4 years. The deal kicks in next season and go though the 2018/2019, with no option clauses included.

“That marks one more step towards a what we hope to be a bright future for this franchise. Signing Paul George to a long extension means that he can now worry only about playing ball. We handed him what we both thought he deserved, and now he’s going to have every opportunity to show he’s worth every dollar on his deal.” said Marcos Beck, who has been very active since arriving at OKC earlier, at the beginning of off-season.

“We know that standing at 3-7 wasn’t what every Thunder supporter wanted to happen early in the season, specially with so many question marks surrounding our new cast. But me and Phil, we’re here to take the blame on us. The bad start of the season has more to do with us than with our players. We’re experienced enough around leagues to handle criticism the best way possible, and we can only protect our players and support them to continue improving as a team. That way we’re going to win ball games.” continued the GM.

Paul George, whom released a small statement following inking his deal, made himself present at press conferences and replied to many questions made by reporters. But the answer that stand most from the others was when asked about how he feels after leaving Indiana this off season following a 4-year spawn with them:

“I called Indy home for a long time. But that’s business. Let’s get all that past us. I’m a Thunder now. I’m happy here. OKC is my home, is where I belong. I hope to remain here for the duration of my contract and bring a championship to this town.”

George, who’s averaging almost 22 points per game on 49% shooting and 45% from beyond the arc, alongside 3.2 steals, 1.2 blocks (all career highs), 3.6 assist and 6.1 boards, has been criticized a lot because of his great number of turnovers, averaging almost 4 and a half per game.

“We’re aware of that issue. We’re working with him to make him more of a catch and shoot player. Yes, he can create off the dribble, but we feel limiting his drives will benefit his game a lot. You can’t take away the 3pt shot from a guy who’s shooting at such high clip. He’s young and will improve with time.” said 11 time ring-winner Phil Jackson.

It seems like OKC is taking a calm approach towards it’s bad start of the season. After all, when you have someone known as the ‘Zen Master’ leading the way, things do not seem to get out of control that easy.

He's putting up monstrous defensive numbers and to get six boards from a SG is a great luxury as well. He certainly is a unique player and if you can tame his turnover numbers then he will have no warts to his game.

Necessary move, and a good one.

First year on a team that's 5 and 7 though. Thought he might have waited.

He can't make more than the max. I was going to match any offer sheet he could get had he become RFA. So, there was no sense to refuse to that deal.

Also, my team is showing some improvement over time, too early to say a team with Howard and George does not have the quality to succeed, even with a bad manager like me haha