Paul George Eyeing Max Contract and MVP Award

The Indiana Pacers wunderkind is eligible for a contract extension leading into next season. After the year he had, we know he’s going to get paid.

How paid? George hopes max-contract paid (via Chris Tomasson of Fox Sports):

“I would hope, George said. “I would hope. Max guys get the job done at this time (the playoffs).’’

George, making $2.6 million this season and $3.3 million next season, could sign an maximum extension this summer with the Pacers that could start at around $14 million for 2014-15. But he stopped short of saying he wants to get his deal done this offseason.

“I haven’t really put my mind to that right now,’’ said George, who would become a restricted free agent in 2014 if he doesn’t sign an extension this offseason. “I really want to focus on what’s at the plate now.”

Though George says he’s not hell-bent on getting a deal done during the offseason, it would be easier for all parties involved if he did. If you’re the Pacers, you don’t want him to reach restricted agency. You have the right to match any offer, but the phrase “free agency” seems too perilous when dealing with such a sensitive issue.

George is a star. For the regular season he averaged 17.4 points, 7.3 rebounds, four assists and 1.7 steals per game. Only one other player closed out the regular season averaging at least 17 points, seven rebounds, four assists and 1.5 seals a night. His name?

LeBron James.

That doesn’t make George better than LeBron, or even as good as LeBron. But it does put him in a the superstar conversation. That, and you know, the fact that he helped carry the Pacers to the Eastern Conference finals even though they were down Danny Granger for essentially the entire season.

Like Tomasson notes, George could be set to make as much as $14 million in the first year of his new deal. And he’s worth that to the Pacers. When you consider how much they paid George Hill ($40 million over five years) and Roy Hibbert ($50-plus million over five years) last summer, there’s no question that George is worth a max contract. Potential MVP candidates always are.

Excuse me?

Hibbert went as far as saying that George could eventually be named the league MVP; that the award that has been LeBron’s four times and for the last two years, could one day be his.

“He’s the future,” Hibbert said. “He has a chance to be MVP of this league next year.”

Ignore the plausibility behind Hibbert’s statement for a second. When you have one teammate coining another an MVP candidate, you know he’s indispensable. Coming from Hibbert, it means even more. Hibbert himself is supposed to be a future star, someone who the Pacers can build around. Yet he’s deferring to George, acknowledging his future greatness.

Now, for that MVP comment of his? Let’s just slow his roll.

George is incredible, and I won’t doubt he’ll one day emerge as a contender for MVP honors. But next season? I have my doubts. Not that George won’t be valuable enough for the Pacers. He will be. He already is. Even after his disappointing Game 7 against the Miami Heat. Rather, it’s the way the award is interpreted. It can go to either the best player or the most valuable. Sometimes those two are one in the same, sometimes they’re not.

Usually, the MVP award is given to somebody who can embody both, like LeBron. He’s easily the best player in the league and one can make the case that he’s just as valuable to the Heat as anyone is to their team (the NBA playoffs showed us that much).

Is George at that level just yet? Where he could be considered, say, a top-five or even top-10 superstar? Again, I have my doubts. But this is one of those things where you welcome being proved wrong.

“I don’t mind at all,” George said of Hibbert’s comments. “I would love my teammates to put pressure on me. It just shows how much they expect out of me.”

It also shows how much George is going to cost the Pacers beyond next season—one max contract to be exact.