Paul George won’t spend next season riding shotgun with LeBron James, joining a Superteam in Boston or heading home to be the face of the Lakers. No, the four-time All-Star forward is headed to Oklahoma City to play with NBA MVP Russell Westbrook.
下赛季到底是成为勒布朗-詹姆斯的帮手呢？还是去波士顿加入一支超级球队呢？或者直接回到家乡，成为湖人的领袖呢？对保罗-乔治来说，这些场景都成了泡沫，因为这名四届全明星将会在下赛季来到俄克拉荷马城，和新科MVP拉塞尔-威斯布鲁克并肩作战。
The Pacers have agreed to trade George, who is set to become an unrestricted free agent next summer, to the Thunder in exchange for shooting guard Victor Oladipo and second-year forward Domantas Sabonis. George (23.7 PPG, 6.6 RPG, 3.3 APG), who is set to make $19.5 million next season, recently informed Indiana that he was willing to play out the 2017-18 season with the Pacers but that he would not re-sign next summer.
步行者队已经同意将乔治——他将在明年夏天成为自由球员——交易到雷霆，换来得分后卫维克托-奥拉迪波和二年级前锋多曼塔斯-萨博尼斯。乔治（上赛季场均23.7 分6.6 篮板3.3助攻）下赛季的薪水将会达到1950万美元，而他也在近期告知步行者队他愿意在2017-18赛季继续效力步行者队，但是他不会在明年夏天选择续约。
让我们来评价这笔交易吧。
Well, no one can accuse Thunder GM Sam Presti of timidity.
好吧，这下没人敢说雷霆总经理萨姆-普莱斯蒂不敢出手了。
There are a few angles to unpack here but the most important is Westbrook’s future in Oklahoma City. While every franchise worries about its stars skipping town, Oklahoma City was staring at the possibility of trading away James Harden, losing Kevin Durant for nothing in free agency, and then being forced to trade Westbrook to guard against another free-agency defection in 2018. That series of events would shatter a fan base, to put it mildly, and it would spur even the most calculating executive to swing for the fences.
有许多事情都值得展开讲，不过最重要的还是威斯布鲁克在俄克拉荷马城的未来。几乎所有的球队都在担心自家球星选择拍屁股走人。雷霆更是如此，他们已经交易走了詹姆斯-哈登，在自由球员市场上用凯文-杜兰特换来了空气，他们甚至可能为了防止威斯布鲁克在2018年成为自由身之后离开，而不得不交易走他。这一系列的事件会让球迷们因为伤心而相继离开。换个更极端一点的说法，这样的境况甚至会逼着最精于计算的球队经理去豪赌一把。
George fills multiple major needs for the Thunder. He’s a secondary scorer who will alleviate Westbrook’s unsustainably high workload. He is a quality, versatile defender who can credibly check elite wings like Durant and Kawhi Leonard in possible postseason match-ups. And he is a signal to Westbrook that the Thunder are serious about building a winner around him rather than merely riding his coattails to exciting but empty regular-season success.
乔治的到来填补了雷霆多种需求。在威斯布鲁克因为繁重的任务而陷入哑火时，乔治能作为球队第二得分手站出来。他是一名有着高水准防守的球员，也能防守多个位置。在可能出现的季后赛对决中，他能和精英级别的翼侧球员——例如杜兰特和科怀-伦纳德——对上位。这笔交易也给威斯布鲁克传送了信号：雷霆希望围绕他建立一支常胜之军，而不是仅仅依靠他在常规赛打出惊人但是无用的表现。
The cold truth about Oklahoma City’s 2016-17 season is that the Thunder went about as far as Westbrook could carry them. If a 30-point triple double wasn’t enough to win 50 games or two playoff games, why wouldn’t he start to look around for greener pastures? While there’s still plenty of deal-making left to play out over the next few weeks, Oklahoma City can enter next season with the hope of winning a playoff series and the dream of reaching the Western Conference finals. That was never going to be possible with Oladipo and Sabonis.
2016-17赛季告诉雷霆一个冰冷的事实：仅靠威斯布鲁克一个人就只能走这么远了。如果场均30分的三双都不能带来50场常规赛胜利和2场季后赛胜利的话，为什么威斯布鲁克不能去更优秀的球队发展呢？而现在，雷霆还有着几周时间去操作，他们完全可以在进入下赛季时期待赢下一个系列赛，同时梦想着进入西部决赛。如果他们还是留着奥拉迪波和萨博尼斯，梦想就永远只会是梦想。
Nevertheless, the obvious longer-term risk must be factored into an analysis of this move. George has intimated that winning and returning to LA are among his top priorities. Oklahoma City will never be Southern California. And will the Thunder be able to put things together quickly enough to win at the level that will satisfy George?
不过，这笔交易的长期隐患也必须予以考虑。乔治曾经提到，赢球和回到洛杉矶是他最主要的目标。俄克拉荷马城永远比不上南加利福尼亚，那么雷霆是否能快速完成建队，然后赢下能让乔治满意的比赛吗？
Before Thunder fans stress out too much over the possibility of George’s departure next summer, it’s worth noting that the deal relieves Oklahoma City of Oladipo’s four-year, $84 million contract. Although that seemed to be a reasonable agreement when it was reached last fall, on the heels of the Serge Ibaka trade, Oladipo didn’t set the world on fire during his first year in Oklahoma City. His contract wasn’t going to be an Enes Kanter-like albatross going forward, but Presti will find himself in a significantly more flexible salary cap position next summer if George does walk.
在雷霆球迷担心乔治明年夏天离开的可能性之前，有一件事值得一提，那就是奥拉迪波4年8400万美元的合同。在去年秋天赛尔吉-伊巴卡的交易过去后没多久，奥拉迪波和雷霆队达成了协议。尽管那时，这个价位显得很合理，但是奥拉迪波在雷霆第一年的表现并不是很出众。他的合同不会像恩内斯-坎特那样随着时间流逝愈加沉重，但是在交易之后，普莱斯蒂让雷霆明年夏天的工资帽变得更加有弹性了——如果乔治真的选择离开的话。
The ironic part about this trade for George, who has had many major organizations around the league weighing the pros and cons of renting him for a year, is that his 2018 decision won’t ultimately decide whether this was a winning move or a losing one. If he re-signs in Oklahoma City, it’s clearly a home run. But the move can still be a success if George leaves as long as Presti’s pluck convinces Westbrook to re-up.
讽刺的是，联盟中如此多的球队都在考虑交易到乔治一年的使用权是否值得，而他2018年选择却不会决定这笔交易的成败。如果他和雷霆续约，那么这笔交易就是极大的成功；如果乔治离开，但是普莱斯蒂的勇气说服威斯布鲁克续约，那么交易也算是成功了。
Pritchard made the right, difficult decision—to trade George early so that his franchise could move forward—but the return leaves so, so much to be desired.
普理查德做出了正确而艰难的决定——提前交易乔治，让球队进入下一阶段——但是他所得到的回报却远不能让人满意。
In Oladipo (15.9 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 2.6 APG) and Sabonis (5.9 PPG, 3.6 RPG), he acquired two rotation players with some degree of untapped potential but no real shot at star potential. He also inherited a significant contract—the $84 million owed to Oladipo—that is most likely going to look no better than mediocre as it unfolds. The bright side: Oladipo (age 25) and Sabonis (age 21) are aligned well with franchise center Myles Turner (age 21).
他得到了奥拉迪波（场均15.9分4.3篮板2.6助攻）和萨博尼斯（5.9分3.6篮板）两名轮转球员，他们都有着尚未开发的天赋，但是都没有成为球星的潜质。他还接手了一份大合同——奥拉迪波8400万美元的合同——这是一份永远不可能成为“超值”的合同。不过也有好消息：奥拉迪波（25岁）和萨博尼斯（21岁）和球队核心中锋迈尔斯-特纳（21岁）的年龄相仿。
With George gone and word spreading that Jeff Teague is likely headed out as well, Indiana was unavoidably headed for a major step back in 2017-18. But Oladipo, a former Indiana Hoosier, is neither good enough to inspire hope as a lead option nor cheap enough to receive the benefit of the doubt. The George-less Pacers will need him to step up in a big-time way, a development that seems unlikely given his fairly forgettable sidekick season alongside Westbrook. Sabonis (5.9 PPG, 3.6 RPG) similarly projects as a useful, skilled big but not much more.
乔治已经离开，而消息称杰夫-蒂格也将远走他乡【译注】，步行者毫无疑问会在2017-18赛季迎来大退步。但是，曾在印第安纳大学就读的奥拉迪波却不够优秀，看上去没有希望成为球队的第一选择，他的合同也会让他在下赛季饱受质疑。没有乔治的步行者需要他在关键时刻站出来，但是上赛季他在威斯布鲁克身边充当二把手时却几乎被人遗忘，因此期盼他在这方面的成长几乎是没有希望的。萨博尼斯似乎会在未来成为一名技术全面的适用性球员，但除此以外别无他物了。
【译注】杰夫-蒂格已经和森林狼达成了3年5700万的协议。
While it’s impossible to know the validity of online rumors, there were indications in recent weeks that Cleveland was interested in sending Kevin Love for George while Boston was offering some combination of flexible contracts and picks. Either scenario—a bona fide face of the franchise or asset accumulation—would have been preferable to this modest return.
虽然网络上流言的真实性不可考，但是最近几周一直有人称，骑士想用凯文-乐福换来乔治，而波士顿则提供了一些有弹性的合同以及选秀权。两种选项——要么换来球队门面，要么积累未来的财富——都比现在只能用“一般”去评价的回报要好。
There is this small consolation: By sending George to the West, Pritchard ensured that the Pacers would only face him twice next year and kept him away from their conference’s elite teams. Will that really matter if the Pacers can’t even crack the top eight in the weakened East?
至少，对于步行者来说有一点安慰吧：在把乔治送到西部之后，普理查德保证了步行者队下赛季只会碰到他两次，也没有让他加入东部的精英球队。如果下赛季步行者甚至不能在变弱之后的东部挤进前八，那这一系列的事情还有意义吗？
