Paul George had a rather active offseason. The future for George seemed up in the air after not making All-NBA and a first-round exit from the playoffs. How could the Pacers possibly keep him with the current status of their team? Well, turns out they couldn't because George reportedly informed Indiana he didn't plan to return after his contract.
George reportedly preferred the Lakers over anybody else and this made trade discussions difficult for Indiana. Eventually, they chose to cut bait from George and traded him to the Thunder. Now, George is on a potential contender and the Pacers can move on to a new era. Everybody's happy, right? Except George says he didn't know he was going to be traded.
- ygtrece - About this summer... I contacted my guy Ryan Capretta @proactivesp immediately after losing in the playoffs and told him I'm on a mission this year to be the best. I wanted him to challenge me and push me harder than I've ever been pushed before. I knew I wasn't good enough the past year and wanted to give my team more. Didn't know I was gonna be traded but what happened, happened. Now I'm faced with the same mission to be the best playing along side the best and damn I'm excited about that! I got better and stronger fasho. Only time would tell. Thanks to everyone over at Proactive who also helped the kid! #ThunderUp#WhatAreYouCapableOf #PG1 #NoBrakes#TilICollapse
This is certainly an interesting comment from George. If he really did inform the Pacers that he planned on testing free agency next summer it's hard to see why he wouldn't expect a trade of some kind. Why else would Indiana choose to give up a star player so quickly and easily? They even filed tampering charges against the Lakers shortly after the trade. There was definitely incentive for the Pacers to trade George whether it was them seeing the end in sight or knowing that George wasn't planning on staying with the Pacers much longer.
