Paul George has regrets about the way his time in Indiana came to an end.
George, who scored 10 points and fouled out during the OKC Thunder’s 114-96 win over the Pacers on Wednesday night, says “things could have been done a lot better.”
#Paul George to #Pacers fans – “I want to give thanks to Indiana for embracing me and my family for 7 years.”https://t.co/fNxI9bTSMw
— Clifton Brown (@CliftonGBrown) October 24, 2017
The All-Star forward says he’s partly responsible for the ugly divorce with the team that drafted him into the NBA.
Per the Indy Star:
“First and foremost, I want to give thanks to Indiana as a state, for embracing me and my family for seven years of being there,” said George during a one-on-one interview. “I learned so much being there. They taught me so much.
“Obviously, I’m human. Things could have been done a lot better. The process, that whole ordeal could have been done a lot better. I’ll share some of that responsibility. But at the end of the day, I did what was best for myself, what was best for my family. I had to move on. It was the right decision for myself. I’m happy. I’m happy with what the results were.”
George was asked how the messages between him and the Pacers got crossed.
“With him (Pacers president Kevin Pritchard) stepping into a new position, I wanted to see what talent was going to be brought in,” George said. “I wanted some assurances of what the team was going to look like. But then it got to the point where it was on my shoulders, with the guys that were being brought in. I didn’t want that burden, not knowing the certainty of how long I was going to be there. I didn’t want to put anyone in a position where ‘Well, Paul steered them one way, and then he left.’ So, I said, ‘I’ll be up front, I’ll put everything on the table, tell them at the end of my contract, I plan to not re-sign.”’
