When Paul George was abruptly traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder last week he didn’t know what to think. George knew he wasn’t long for the Indiana Pacers, he told the team he wouldn’t be re-signing next offseason, but almost no one had projected that he’d end up with the Thunder, including George himself.
So George reached out to the last superstar wing to play in Oklahoma City — Warriors forward Kevin Durant.
“KD was like, ‘That place will blow you away,’” George told Sports Illustrated in a story published Tuesday. “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.”
Durant’s praise the Thunder is significant considering the way he was treated by Oklahoma City fans during his visits with the Warriors last season, and the fact that Durant left the team for a better situation in the Bay Area. George will likely be able to relate to the vitriol Durant was subject to when he visits Indiana next season.
“There’s no right way to handle it,” George told Lee Jenkins. “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.”
The Pacers traded George for Victor Oladipo and last year’s first round pick Domantas Sabonis. The four-time All-Star George will join MVP Russell Westbrook as the Thunder hope they have put together that will actually be competitive in their rivalry with Golden State next season. The Warriors blew out the Thunder in all three matchups last season.
“I want to be in a good system, a good team. I want a shot to win it,” he said. “I’m not a stats guy. I’m playing this game to win and build a legacy of winning. I’ve yet to do that. I’m searching for it. If we get a killer season in Oklahoma, we make the conference finals or upset the Warriors or do something crazy, I’d be dumb to want to leave that.”
