Paul George: How Thunder Finish This Season Won’t Dictate Free Agency Decision

What jersey will Paul George be rocking next season?

The OKC All-Star is set to hit free agency this summer, and many have speculated he’ll leave to join the Lakers.

PG discussed his upcoming decision with reporters on Friday, stressing that how the Thunder finish this year will not dictate where he goes, via ESPN‘s Royce Young

“As I told [ESPN’s] Rachel [Nichols], I can see myself being here,” George said. “I’ve been happy here, I’ve been happy with the organization, happy with my teammates. Our record is not what we want it to be, but I think I’ve enjoyed just learning and being around these guys. So my answer is still the same. I’m not going to let the playoffs or how we finish this season persuade or indicate where I’m going to this offseason. I’m going to put everything into this and again, I can definitely see myself being here.”

“This is our first year together. This is Year 1 for this group,” he said. “We’ve got a chance to win it all, but realistically it takes time for things to build and chemistry to mesh. Just for everybody to be on the same page. So this wasn’t a championship or bust coming into this for me. It was just an opportunity to see what it’s like being here and just to naturally fall in love with it. And it’s been that. It’s been a lot of love here.”

George did add, however, that Andre Roberson’s knee injury will be a factor in his evaluation process:

“Absolutely. That definitely changes a lot,” he said. “Andre is a big piece, and him going down, it definitely was a big blow to us. But you’ve got to look at everything. You’ve got to look at what we can be, imagine what we would be if Andre was here playing with [us] now. Absolutely, you’ve got to look at everything. You’ve got to look at the team coming back, with free agency coming up with other guys who we could possibly go grab and who could we, myself, [Carmelo Anthony], [Russell Westbrook], who can we recruit with us here. You’ve got to look at everything.”

The Thunder currently hold the No. 7 seed in the West, but have just a one-game lead over the No. 9 Denver Nuggets.

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