George expects ‘emotional’ experience in facing Pacers
There are new faces on the roster, new starters in the lineup. Even the uniforms have changed since Paul George left the Indiana Pacers.
Still, when the Thunder forward lines up against his former team Wednesday at Chesapeake Energy Arena, he knows it won’t be any other night.
“It’s the organization I started with, had a wonderful journey with, seven unbelievable years with,” George said Tuesday. “It’ll be emotional from that standpoint.”
George became a franchise player in Indiana. He led the organization to two Eastern Conference Finals appearances, made four All-Star Games. In 451 games as a Pacer, he averaged 18.1 points, the eighth-highest career scoring average in franchise history.
“I think the mindset that he has is trying to get a win, especially after dropping two in a row, and try to get back on the right track,” said teammate Carmelo Anthony, who last week opened the season against his old team, the New York Knicks. “If I sit here and say he’s not excited about that game I’d be lying to y’all.”
Much has changed since Indiana traded George to the Thunder on June 30 for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis.
Only six players on the current Pacers roster played with George last season. There are nine new faces, including starters Darren Collison, Oladipo and Sabonis.
The cover of the team’s media guide shows all 15 Pacers alongside the headline “New Year, New Direction.”
Indiana is remade, perhaps rebuilding, though the franchise has rejected that label.
Whatever the Pacers are doing, George helped set them on their current path. Over the summer, his agent informed Indiana that George planned to opt out of the final year of his contract after this season — and reportedly that his client preferred to sign with the Los Angeles Lakers.
It was an apparent blow to George’s trade value, and Kevin Pritchard, the Pacers’ president of basketball operations, called George’s trade request “a gut punch” during a June news conference.
“Paul is a very caring person,” Pritchard said in a July news conference introducing Oladipo and
Sabonis. “I think he wishes it would’ve gone a little bit different in terms of the process, but he wants us to do well and we want him to do well.”
The split might not be so amicable for Pacers fans, but they don’t factor into George’s first reunion. Like Anthony, his first look at his former team will come in front of the friendly fans at The Peake.
“I think it’s a little bit easier when you get a chance to play on your court first, get that out of the way rather than open it up on the road there in New York or Indiana,” Anthony said. “The emotions are a little bit different.”
Later this season, George and Anthony will return to their old cities in the same week — the Thunder is at the Pacers on Dec. 13 and New York three days later — and that will mean “having to relive all the old memories and stories,” Anthony said, good and bad.
This time around, it’s easier. George can focus less on his emotions and more on trying to find his fit with the Thunder.
He’s struggled from the floor with his new team, shooting 37.1 percent from the floor and 33.3 percent from 3-point range through three games. But George is averaging 21.3 points and making an impact defensively, leading the NBA in deflections at six per game.
On Wednesday, he’s playing just his fourth game with his new team, and he’d be looking to settle in with the Thunder regardless of the opponent. But last week, George said he knew Anthony would be hungry for a win against his former team, and he expects to feel the same way.
“Tomorrow I’ll be laser focused and really up for the task, up to get this win,” George said. “I’m excited for this challenge, excited for this matchup.”