A few years ago, Paul George found himself mentioned in the conversation for best player in the NBA. It was possibly a stretch, but he was in people's minds.
His Indiana Pacers had reached the Eastern Conference finals two years in a row and George was deemed to be close to LeBron James and Kevin Durant as one of the league’s best. His ability to lead his team as a two-way player took him to an elite level.
When he suffered a career altering leg injury in a Team USA scrimmage, many questioned if the All Star forward could ever return to the top.
The Pacers missed him whilst he recovered, failing to reach the playoffs for two years in a row. A rehabilitated Paul George led his team to the playoffs in the 2015-2016 season, taking the Toronto Raptors to seven games before elimination. The California native managed this with a somewhat weaker squad than he had been surrounded by in previous years.
The Pacers organisation has been busy this summer. They added veteran big man Al Jefferson, All-Star caliber point guard Jeff Teague, and managed to acquire the versatile forward Thaddeus Young from the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for the #20 draft pick.
The three-time NBA All Star is very pleased with the work of Larry Bird and the rest of the front office people in Indiana. With added talent around him, George feels as though he can push the team to an even higher level, competing to be the best in the East, per Michael Lee of The Vertical.
“I think with the moves that they made, it's on me now, to get us back to being contenders,” he said when speaking with Michael Lee of the Vertical. “I think, with what I'm going to bring, the talent I have around me now, I've got a chance to challenge Cleveland.”
It’s no easy feat to reach the level of the NBA champions, but his self-belief is a positive sign for the Indiana fanbase.
At the top of Paul George’s priority list right now is to take home a gold medal for Team USA, putting to bed the regret of missing out on international success due to injury.
“I've been waiting a long time for this opportunity,” George said. “I'm going all out.”
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