INDIANAPOLIS, IN. — Once again Paul George came into Bankers Life Fieldhouse and gave his former team the Indiana Pacers the business. He and his Clippers teammates, without Kawhi Leonard who sat out with a sore right foot, held Indiana off with a 126-115 victory.
George finished the night with 36 points, 8 assists and 7 rebounds as his record at Bankers Life since being traded to OKC is now 4-0.
What’s so funny is that the media around this town has Pacers fans hating this guy for not wanting to sign an extension to his contract years ago. They are still booing this guy because he didn’t want to keep playing here.
It’s crazy to me that folks think that they own these players and that includes the teams too. Paul George refused to sign an extension before the All-Star break a year and a half before his contract was to expire. A year and a half!!!
The Pacers had ample time to trade him and get value for him. By the way, they got excellent value for him by picking up Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis in the end.
At the time they decided to hold on to him because he was ballin’. If he’d made first team All-NBA they could have offered him a Max contract of over $200 million.
However, he didn’t make the first team All-NBA and the Max couldn’t be offered. From the time George refused to sign the extension reporters asked him was he going to stay in Indy. As all professionals in every field of work. He said yes because he was currently employed.
When you’re actively interviewing for jobs and your boss asks you if you’re interviewing or if you’re going to stay with the company you naturally say yes. So why was Paul George any different than you?
Local reporters continued to jam him up and he finally folded at a celebrity baseball game in the summer that he wouldn’t be signing the extension and he was eventually traded. It’s called business. However, the media went in on him painting him as the bad guy when all he did was refuse to sign an extension.
The Pacers tried to act like ole boy never told them that he wasn’t coming back when he had in fact refused to sign the extension before the All-Star break. That isn’t on Paul George that was on the team to make a move.
Paul was looking out for Paul and rightfully so. So why are people still booing a man for moving on with his life and not wanting to play anymore for Indiana? He’s the nicest guy you ever want to meet. It makes absolutely no sense. Stop me when I start lyin’!
