Paul George was a longtime face of the Indiana Pacers’ franchise before suddenly wanting out. It was an ugly departure for PG13 from the franchise that loved him so much. There was also a lot of confusion as to what happened.
Now, the superstar has come out and told all about his departure from Indiana. He honestly gave the shocking reason that he requested a move away from the Pacers.
According to George in an interview with Quentin Richardson and Darius Miles on the Knuckleheads Podcast, he left because the Pacers weren’t interested in bringing in a star that he wanted to play with.
“I ain’t gon’ say the names, because I’m going to keep their business private, I’ma just say it like this. I had at the time, the best power forward saying he wanted to come to Indy and team up with me.”
“They’re like, ‘we’re a mid-major, we’re a small market, like, we can’t do it, we’re a small market, we can’t afford that.’ I’m like the best power forward wants to come play here, like, y’all can’t make that work? They didn’t want to do it.”
He went on to discuss how he felt about the Pacers’ unwillingness to spend big money to bring in a legitimate star to play alongside him.
“So I’m like, now I’m pissed, because it’s like, what am I doing here? You know what I mean? They don’t want to win. I’ve got the best power forward that wants to come play here. Not everybody chooses Indy to come play here.”
Many believe that the power forward in question is Blake Griffin. George and Griffin absolutely would have been a force to be reckoned with in the Eastern Conference. However, Griffin had a ton of injury issues and no one can blame for the Pacers for not wanting to spend big and take that risk.
Others believe Paul Millsap may have been the player that George was speaking about. A much smaller group think that Kevin Durant could have been the player George was referring too.
No matter who the player was, this story makes much more sense. George went from committing and being all-in with the Pacers to demanding a trade seemingly overnight. If the Pacers were unwilling to pursue quality pieces to place around George, his frustration would make sense.
This is a very strange story, but one that fans in Indiana are sure to have differing opinions on.
