A Big Three Of Devin Booker, Paul George And Jimmy Butler On The Same Team? The Miami Heat, Phoenix Suns And Los Angeles Clippers Stars Could Have All Been Drafted By The Same Team
The Indiana Pacers could have had Devin Booker, Paul George and Jimmy Butler on the same team at one point.
Yes, that is correct.
The Pacers drafted George in 2010, and they could have drafted Butler in 2011 and Booker in 2015.
Let's take a look at how that could have been possible:
George was drafted by the Pacers with the 10th overall pick in the 2010 NBA Draft, and he spent the first seven years of his career in Indiana.
He was an All-Star four times on the Pacers and made the Eastern Conference Finals in back-to-back seasons in 2013 and 2014, but was knocked out by LeBron James and the Miami Heat in both seasons.
The season after they drafted George, they had the 15th overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft and they made a massive mistake.
The Pacers made a trade with the San Antonio Spurs, which was headlined by the 15th overall pick (which became Kawhi Leonard) being sent to San Antonio for George Hill.
The trade was not a disaster because Hill was a solid point guard for the Pacers, but they could have Leonard and they also could have drafted Jimmy Butler who was drafted with the 30th overall pick that season.
Therefore, they missed out on Leonard and Butler.
In 2015, they made a very solid selection in Myles Turner out of Texas who has been a star defender for the team for the last six years.
However, just two picks later (13th overall), the Phoenix Suns selected Devin Booker out of Kentucky.
Turner was not a bad choice, but Booker clearly is the better player.
That's the story on how the Pacers could have had a big three of George, Butler (or Leonard) and Booker.
