Paul George Rumors
All NBA Players
Position: F
Born: 05/02/90
Height: 6-9 / 2.06
Weight:220 lbs. / 99.8 kg.
Salary: $30,560,700
Born: 05/02/90
Height: 6-9 / 2.06
Weight:220 lbs. / 99.8 kg.
Salary: $30,560,700
Paul George revealed to ESPN’s The Undefeated that he “would have been in a Lakers uniform” if he had never been traded from the Indiana Pacers. But after the Pacers dealt the five-time All-Star to the Oklahoma City Thunder instead last year, he fell in love with his new team and playing with Russell Westbrook before eventually agreeing to a four-year, $137 million contract extension this past offseason. “It was 50-50 on deciding whether I wanted to come back home or if it was smarter to be in the situation I am in now,” George told The Undefeated. “But it wasn’t overstated. I wanted to play in L.A. That is where I wanted to go. Had that trade never went down, had I played one more year in Indy, I would have been in a Lakers uniform.”
The Lakers, however, kept the No. 2 selection to draft UCLA guard Lonzo Ball and never dealt Ingram. George was disappointed that the Lakers did not value him enough to make the trade with the Pacers at the time, a source said.
“Going toward the summer and going toward free agency, I kind of had my mind made up talking with the team, talking with Russ and talking with the front-office,” George said. “I kind of felt good where we were at. Last [season], I didn’t get a chance to start with this team fresh. I got traded late. So, I picked up things late with the team. I wanted to get to it right away this time and start creating early.”
But for the most part, people might think different, but I actually had a great time in OKC. I think being so close with Russ [Westbrook] and PG [Paul George], and then all the other guys on the team, and the organization was very helpful in trying to make the transition smoothly. I had a great time in OKC. Nichols: So tell me about that transition, though. How did things go down over the summer after the season? Did you come to them? Did they come to you? Anthony: We had a real conversation. I had a real conversation with Coach [Billy] Donovan, and we had all summer to try to figure it out. And they told me they was looking in another direction, and I know how the game works.
“It can be frustrating when, at the end of the day, we’re the only ones that know what it feels like or what decision we ultimately want to make,” George told reporters in Oklahoma City last month. “But then you say one thing, and one person put this story out, and now everybody is taking to it. You say one thing, I’m going to make this person mad. Say something else, I’m going to make these people mad. So at the end of the day, we’ve got to be happy with who we are, and we’ve got to be happy with the decision we’re going to make. It was frustrating, but it’s what our job is. It’s what we’ve got to deal with.”
Executives around the NBA assumed that George, a Southern California native, was angling his way to the Lakers at the first opportunity. They were right. “I wanted to go back home,” George says. Home meant Palmdale, which meant Los Angeles, which meant the team of his basketball idol, Kobe Bryant. George dreamed in purple and gold, but he was reasonable enough to consider his alternatives. “If that didn’t work,” he adds, “I absolutely wouldn’t have minded playing for the Clippers.”
