The 2025 NBA Finals matchup, which has a Paul George twist to it, is set between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers on Thursday, June 5, at 8:30 p.m. Eastern. The Thunder are led by their 2025 MVP guard, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and rising star Jalen Williams. The Pacers let their All-Star point guard, Tyrese Haliburton, run the offense alongside familiar names like Pascal Siakam. But what some NBA fans may have forgotten is that Philadelphia 76ers small forward George is directly responsible for both the Thunder and the Pacers’ playoff success.

The Thunder Trade

After seven years with the Pacers, four All-Star appearances, and seven playoff appearances, in 2017, George decided it was time to move on from Indiana. The Thunder packaged rising star Victor Oladipo and a young, up-and-coming center in Domantas Sabonis for George. The pair would develop into All-Star caliber players. But they saw little success with the Pacers in the playoffs thanks to LeBron James. After three years and a multitude of injuries, Oladipo was traded to the Houston Rockets as part of the James Harden deal that saw the Pacers acquire Caris LeVert and a few second-round picks.

The Pacers Trade

The Pacers later traded one of those second-round picks and a late first-round pick from that same 2023 NBA Draft for a 2024 first-round pick. That 2024 first-round pick was used to acquire Pascal Siakam in 2024 who, a year later, won the Eastern Conference Finals MVP for the Pacers.

Circling back to the two original players in the George deal, Sabonis played two more years after Oladipo was traded away. In 2022, Sabonis, along with Justin Holiday, Jeremy Lamb, and a 2023 second-round pick, were traded at the deadline to the Sacramento Kings for Tyrese Haliburton, Buddy Hield, and Tristan Thompson.

The Clippers Trade

There is one final component to the George trade that happened just two years after getting traded to the Thunder. In the summer of 2019, the Los Angeles Clippers pulled off a blockbuster trade for George. They packaged a 19-year-old Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, an aging Danilo Gallinari, four unprotected first-round picks, two first-round swaps, and a protected first-round pick. The 2022 unprotected first-round pick in that deal would end up becoming the Thunder’s X-Factor in Jalen Williams.

End Of My Paul George Rant

While Paul George wasn’t directly traded for all of these players, that first trade became a falling domino effect that drastically altered both the Thunder and the Pacers’ future. Now, in 2025, Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams will face off against Haliburton and Siakam, all thanks to George’s decision to leave Indiana.