Oklahoma, December 14: Now that Paul George has had some time to reflect on his departure from the Indiana Pacers, the Oklahoma City Thunder recruit said there are a few things he would have done differently but he feels "closure".
George and the Pacers did not part on the best terms after the NBA All-Star told the team he had no plans to re-sign as an unrestricted free agent.
It caused a lot of bad blood between the two sides, but George said the outcome was ultimately worth it for both him and the team.
"It's more so of Indiana doing well — where they're at now, that was closure for me," said George, whose Thunder topped the Pacers 100-95 in his return to Indiana on Wednesday (December 13).
"At the end of the day, when we reached out to the front office to tell them our plans, our future plans, it was to help them along the way, and it was bad at first, so to speak, that they thought with this trade it wasn't gonna pan out. But it obviously did.
"They got two great young pieces, so that was good for me to see that this franchise changed the locker room and [are] going in the right direction."
For trading George to the Thunder, the Pacers received Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis.
Oladipo is thriving in Indiana and just came off a career-best 47-point game on Sunday. On average, he is scoring 24.5 points per game.
Source: OPTA