Wait, the Paul George trade wasn't a travesty?

Victor Oladipo (Bleacher Report)

First of all, no, I am not in any way arguing that the Pacers got the better end of the deal in the Paul George trade. Players like George don't come around very often, and it sucks that Indiana was forced to get rid of PG-13 or risk losing him for nothing.

The Pacers were (maybe rightly) excoriated when the trade finally went down. It seemed like there were better deals, including possibly the Celtics' Brooklyn pick that they ended up shipping out to Cleveland in the Kyrie Irving trade, on the table when the shocking deal with OKC broke on the eve of free agency this summer.

People roasted the Pacers for not getting any draft picks back and only what was considered an overpriced contract in Victor Oladipo and an underachieving young player in Domantas Sabonis.

Oladipo had a so-so year in in OKC after coming over from the Magic and Sabonis had an up-and-down rookie year. The fact is, it I think the situation Oladipo and Sabonis found themselves in last year would be difficult for anyone to have success in. The sole purpose of everyone on the Thunder last season was to get Russell Westbrook to a triple-double every night. How could anyone perform their best in that scenario?

In Indiana this season, both Sabonis and Oladipo are shining with increased roles (out of the shadow of Westbrook).

Sabonis, who averaged just 5.9 pts as a rookie, is up to 13.3, 9.8 rebounds and 2.8 assists (a great total for a 4 or 5). After just managing just 40% shooting last year, Sabonis is connecting on 63% of his shots, including 40% from three (admittedly on few attempts) so far.

Oladipo is having the best season of his career by far, making the leap up to 23.4 points this season after a career best of 17.9 in his second season in 2014-15. He's shooting 44% (!) from three on over five attempts per game so far. His prior best percentage from behind the arc was 36.1% last year, but he's steadily gotten better in that department every season, so what was looking like #smallsamplesize bias early in the season may actually be a trend worth following.

Again, straight up, player for player, the Pacers lost the George deal. There may have even been better deals out there. But, with Sabonis looking like another young big the Pacers can pair with now franchise cornerstone (they hope) Myles Turner for the future, and Oladipo having a renaissance year, the Pacers got a pretty good haul considering the threat of Paul George fleeing to greener (yellower?) pastures.

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