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Indianapolis retailer gives away its Paul George merchandise after report he wants to leave Pacers in 2018

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Not long after a report came out that Indiana Pacers star Paul George told the team that he intends to sign with the Lakers in 2018, a clothing store in Indianapolis sold out of all its George merchandise.

Maybe fans sensed the items might become collector's items after George’s departure. Or perhaps they wanted to show their appreciation for a four-time All Star who has spent all seven of his NBA seasons with the Pacers.

Or maybe it was because the store was giving away its George-related inventory for free.

On Monday, three days after Adrian Wojnarowski of the Vertical reported the story about George preparing to leave the Pacers after next season, the website for The Shop listed its hats and shirts featuring George’s initials and jersey number marked down 100% — from $25 to $0.

The store posted an Instagram photo of the items from the website with their new prices, along with the caption, “We made a couple updates to the website. Have at it. #byepg13.”

"We knew that we probably weren't going to sell those T-shirts anymore now that he's leaving the team," store manager Hillary Brown told the Bleacher Report. "We just wanted to give it away. It's something that we've done in the past as well. If we have a T-shirt that we know isn't going to sell, we just give it away."

George can't opt out of his contract with the Pacers until next summer, but the team may decide to trade him before that in an attempt to get something out of his departure.

"The decision to make the shirts free was made by the owner,” Brown said. “He knew where this Paul George situation was going, and he just thought this was the thing to do."

Suddenly a bargain, the items didn’t last long. The online shop lists both as sold out, and Brown said they didn’t last long in the physical store either.

"We didn't have that many left to begin with,” she said. “Once we put them out for free, they went very fast, before the afternoon was over."

charles.schilken@latimes.com

Twitter: @chewkiii

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