The Golden State Warriors are off to an incredibly impressive start, opening up 11-3 through 14 games which has them sitting atop the NBA's Western Conference.
The current hot form is coming with the Warriors below the first tax apron, and as a team who retained all of its young assets and future draft picks which could be utilized in a move at a later point down the track.
The Warriors got fortunate in not acquiring Paul George
Things could have easily been different. Golden State had plans of acquiring a star during the offseason, and specifically Paul George in the days prior to free agency. The Warriors were willing to trade for George and hand him an extension in excess of $200 million -- a move that would have seen them relinquish some assets and most likely place them deep into the tax once again.
The L.A. Clippers had little interest in bringing back perhaps over $50 million in salary via a George trade, preferring to instead let the 9x All-Star opt out of his contract and walk to the Philadelphia 76ers in free agency.
In rejecting a trade with their pacific rival, the Clippers may have actually done the Warriors a huge favor. George is now back on the injury list after hyper-extending his knee during the 76ers' 117-11 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Thursday, with the 34-year-old set to miss at least the next two games due to bone bruising according to ESPN's Shams Charania.
Giving George a four-year contract at over $200 million was always going to be risky given his age and injury history. The early returns aren't good from a Philadelphia standpoint -- George has only played in eight of the team's 14 games so far, and in those is averaging just 14.9 points on 38.3% shooting from the floor and 27.8% from three-point range.
Between George, Joel Embiid, leaked player only meetings and a league-worst 2-12 record, the 76ers are the biggest mess in the NBA right now. There's obviously plenty of time for George and Philadelphia to turn things around, but right now the Warriors can count themselves extremely fortunate that they're not the team on the hook for his contract.
Perhaps things would have been different for George were he in the Bay right now -- maybe he'd be playing really well and without the injury concerns. That's all hypothetical though, with the reality that the Warriors would probably be incredibly thankful that the Clippers rejected their trade approach.