The Thunder's most important move of the off-season was pretty obvious to local fans. The decision to swap Carmelo Anthony and his headband collection to Atlanta for a legit back-up point guard was one that we can all applaud. The second-best move was locking up Paul George for four more years with a $137 million contract.
Giving a max contract to a player who has a metal rod in his leg and is coming off knee surgery is a bit risky, but in a league where multiple stars are required to even have a shot at a ring, he's still a top 20 player whose defensive abilities are coveted as much as his scoring talents. And his willingness to sign long-term with OKC even though he should have really just gone to LA to play with LeBron is a move that could help the Thunder attract free agents in the future.
Anyways, now that Paul George has decided to stay in Oklahoma for a few more years, he's got a huge house that is being rented out by Oklahoma Republicans for a big fundraiser. From NewsOK:
An upcoming Oklahoma Republican Party fundraiser will be at the ritzy Oklahoma City home of Thunder star Paul George, but don't consider it a political statement.
The $75-per-person fundraiser next Tuesday will feature jazz and drinks at 5309 Pulchella Dr., a five-bedroom and eight-bathroom house in the Gaillardia Country Club listed at $3.4 million.
An invitation to the event says the home belongs to George but Pam Pollard, chair of the Oklahoma Republican Party, stressed in an interview that George will not be there and is “absolutely not, in any way whatsoever” making a political statement.
“From what I understand, he actually leases his house. This is his seasonal home. We are renting it from the person that he actually leases it from,” Pollard said.
The 10,000-square-foot show home can be leased when George is not staying there, Pollard said. It features a three-stop elevator, 10-car garage, three balconies and two hot tubs, according to a listing on Zillow.
There's a Facebook event page for the fundraiser. It appears that George's name has been removed from it, but he's still named on the ticket purchasing website:
Join us for ONE ENCHANTED EVENING of music and drinks with jazz greats David Hooten & Edgar Cruz. The event will be held in the beautiful Showhome of Thunder Player Paul George, 5309 Pulchella Dr. (in Gaillardia), in Oklahoma City August 14, 2018, 6:00pm to 8:00pm. All proceeds will benefit the Oklahoma Republican Party.
Yes, the ever-present back-pages-of-the-Gazeette mainstay Edgar Cruz will be there to shred his "jazzy" 12-string guitar, and I'm assuming there will be a few of George's bass trophies to gawk at. As of writing, only 11 people have responded as 'Going,' which is strange because the only people on that site these days are the old white people that seem to fall in between the Venn Diagram of 'GOP Member' and 'Regular Facebook User.'
The only thing that honestly troubles me about all of this is that Paul George doesn't own a home in Oklahoma City. A little research yields information that he had apparently purchased a $7.5 million house in California, not to mention a $2.2 million dollar home in Indiana when he played for the Pacers.
One of the major selling points that Oklahomans love to tout about their state is how cheap it is to own a house. Hell, the place George is staying at now is $3.4 million, which is of course opulent and ridiculous, but his contract could buy that same house 40 times over (and that's not including the extra $30 million he'll make over the same four years from his sponsors like Nike, Gatorade, and Bass Pro Shops).
As a renter who has never had any interest in all the hassles that come with home ownership, I guess I get the reasoning. But if I was a multimillionaire who wouldn't have to bat an eye about paying people to mow my lawn and all that stuff, I'd probably be willing to buy a house.