“I felt like the window had closed. I thought they were going in a different direction and I wanted to go in a different direction.” He didn’t ask for a trade. He told the Pacers he intended to sign elsewhere after his deal expired in ‘18. “I wanted them to have the opportunity to get something back if they didn’t want me to play that last year.”
In a recent interview with Sports Illustrated‘s Lee Jenkins, Paul George opened up about leaving the Pacers, joining the Thunder, and a potential future with the Lakers.
George was traded from Indiana to Oklahoma City for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis at the end of June. He apparently reached out to former OKC superstar Kevin Durant to discuss the move:
“KD was like, ‘That place will blow you away,’” George says. “He told me, ‘They can offer what other teams can’t in terms of the people and the preparation and the facility, down to the chefs and the meals.’ He was pretty high on them. He thought it was a first-class organization in every way.”
In addition, PG expressed his appreciation for Pacer fans and revealed the primary reason he wanted out:
“There’s no right way to handle it,” George says. “I get the frustration. I get why people are upset. But at the same time, I want the average fan to understand that we only get a small window to play this game and more than anything you want to be able to play for a championship. I wanted to bring that to Indiana. I really did. I love Indiana. That will always be a special place for me and I’m sorry for not holding on. But I wasn’t sure we’d ever get a team together to compete for a championship and that’s where all this came from.”
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