While the Los Angeles Lakers were believed to be Paul George's preferred destination when he requested a trade from the Indiana Pacers in 2017, the San Antonio Spurs were also on his list.

"I wanted to be traded to San Antonio," George said. "We wanted to go to San Antonio first, and we didn't make that happen."

A source confirmed the Spurs and Pacers held discussions, but San Antonio lacked the assets necessary to acquire George.

The Lakers decided not to deal the second overall pick in 2017 and Brandon Ingram for George as they believed they could eventually sign him in free agency.

George was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder, re-signed with the franchise in 2018 and was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers in 2019.

"As far as the Lakers, I wanted to go to L.A.," George said. "They didn't make that happen. They didn't put nothing together. So that's in the back of my mind [when I became a free agent]. That was in the back of my mind."

George and Leonard still wanted to play together.

"Since that moment, we were trying to pair up with one another," George said. "We were trying to make it work. [After being traded to Oklahoma City] I had obligations that I wanted to come back to Oklahoma and give it another shot... And then I felt that I needed to move on, I needed to go in another direction and I needed to at that point do what I wanted to do my whole career."

The Orlando Magic expressed interested in trading for DeMar DeRozan, league sources told Kevin O'Connor of The Ringer.

The Magic are "scouring the trade market for scoring help," added O'Connor.

DeRozan has a player option for next season, though The Athletic reported that DeRozan and the Spurs remain far apart on negotiating a contract extension.

The Boston Celtics were set to draft Tony Parker in the 2001 NBA Draft until Red Auerbach overruled brand-new general manager Chris Wallace.

Auerbach was 84 at the time and remained president and vice chairman. Auerbach insisted the Celtics instead select Joe Forte at No. 21, several league executives confirmed recently.

Auerbach was skeptical of European point guards and he also had scouted Forte dating back to high school at DeMatha Catholic in Maryland.

The San Antonio Spurs knew Parker had a good workout for the Celtics and they feared Boston might select him with one of their three picks in the top-21. San Antonio selected Parker with the 28th overall pick.