Paul George recently opened up to Sports Illustrated's Lee Jenkins about leaving Indiana, his impressions of Oklahoma City and what Kevin Durant told him shortly after the trade was announced.
According to Jenkins, Paul George reached out to KD to get a feel for the organization and the former face of the franchise had nothing but praise, describing OKC as a first-class organization in every way.
"KD was like, 'That place will blow you away,'" George said. "He told me, 'They can offer what other teams can't in terms of the people and the preparation and the facility, down to the chefs and the meals.' He was pretty high on them. He thought it was a first-class organization in every way."
George also told Jenkins about the backlash he received from Pacers fans after he informed the team that he would be signing elsewhere as a free agent if he wasn't traded.
"There's no right way to handle it," he told Sports Illustrated. "I get the frustration. I get why people are upset. But at the same time, I want the average fan to understand that we only get a small window to play this game and more than anything you want to be able to play for a championship. I wanted to bring that to Indiana. I really did. I love Indiana. That will always be a special place for me and I'm sorry for not holding on. But I wasn't sure we'd ever get a team together to compete for a championship and that's where all this came from."
You can check the full piece here.