The Los Angeles Lakers are still in the mix to sign star forward Paul George in free agency, sources tell Lakers Outsiders. A months-long saga with reports that George was “hell-bent” on a partnership with his hometown team went away for a short time once the former Pacer was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder.

While George is no longer on a franchise that would rather take a singer and, let’s be honest, pretty crappy young player in return for its superstar for petty reasons, his interest in the Lakers has not gone away.

George, a free agent in 2018, was impressed by Magic Johnson’s and Rob Pelinka’s ability to tamper and only be fined by the NBA, according to one source near the situation. George was “hell-bent” on congratulating the Lakers for their win in the tampering investigation but had to be talked out of it, the source said. Instead, George plans on appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and winking at the camera when asked about signing with the Lakers.

The Pacers were seemingly salty upset that George’s request to sign with the Lakers drove down his value, citing the reported potential haul of Gary Harris “fool’s gold” because “Why would we trade George to the Cavaliers and make our rival stronger; we were so close to beating them last year!”

Despite the Pacers’ best efforts, however, the Lakers may still come out on top with no punishment to take signing George away from them. Said LeBron James, according to another source, “Hell yes!”

If you read this far, we hope you understand that this is all satire. We don’t actually have sources. But, hey, if you want us to keep building our way towards that, consider helping us out!