Oklahoma City Thunder star Paul George recently shed some more light on the huge decision he made last summer. According to the six-time All-Star wing, an early exit from last season's playoffs ultimately played a huge role in his decision to re-sign with the Thunder rather than joining the Los Angeles Lakers.
“Looking back on it, if I would've made another decision, I would have looked back at that one year in Oklahoma and thought, What if?” George says, via Master Tesfatsion of Bleacher Report. “That's what made this decision a little easier—that I didn't give everything I had.
“I'm very indecisive at times,” George says. “That's a real problem for me. That's where the ‘what if' comes from sometimes. Well, what if I did that? Then you're splitting in between. Once I get locked on to something, I try to stay there for that reason. If I think about any other decision, my head will be spinning. Once I got locked on to staying, I was all-in for it.”
Many believed that after one season with the Thunder, George would opt to walk away from Oklahoma in favor of a more prestigious move to his home town of Los Angeles with the Lakers. This foiled prospect left more than a few Lakers supporters disgruntled — something that George also decided to address:
“I think my words kind of threw people off because they read one sentence, and it's, ‘Oh, he's going to L.A.,'” George says. “I wanted to go to L.A. I said that, and I voiced that ever since the Pacers were just about to trade me. But, it didn't happen. I went somewhere else. I loved the situation. I was wowed by the situation. That's where I feel comfortable at.
“I think people just got caught up in the situation a little too much. But it's my life. It's my livelihood. It's my job, and I've got that right.”
At the end of the day, it was George's decision to make, and his alone. As it turns out, he might have chosen the right path, with his recent surge resulting in the best season of his career as well as a place in the MVP conversation.
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