Paul George spoke with the media during the mini camp of Team USA and referred to his decision to re-sign with the Thunder and not join the Los Angeles Lakers.
Although he was one of the team’s targets during the free agency, the All-Star forward didn’t even take a meeting with Magic Johnson and the Lakers.
“The reason why I didn’t (take a meeting) is that coming down to free agency and before it was about to open (on July 1), I felt really good where I was at,” George said. “I felt I was in a good place with Oklahoma. I wanted to come back to LA. That story was true. The narrative on that was true,” he added.
George also explained why he decided to renew his contract with the Thunder and keep playing alongside Russell Westbrook.
“That’s where my heart was. But this year, being in Oklahoma, I felt really good about the situation, I felt really good going forward, and I didn’t want to waste nobody’s time and take a meeting. I felt great where we were at, so I decided to do it early, to get it over with, and start to build.
I didn’t get that chance to last summer, because I got traded late in the summer. So I never got that chance to start fresh, to work to get better with Russ and work to get better with the Thunder. So I wanted to attack that early and get ready for my career,” George stated.
