Even after their convincing 125-105 victory over the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday, the Oklahoma City Thunder have a cloud hanging over their head because Paul George will need to decide his future this offseason.
For George, the decision probably comes down to staying in Oklahoma City or playing with the Lakers in his hometown of Los Angeles. With a matchup between the Lakers and Thunder at the Staples Center set for Thursday, George spoke with Sam Amick of USA Today Sports about where he currently stands on his upcoming career-altering decision.
While George repeatedly admits that he's "happy" with his situation in OKC, he hasn't closed the door on the possibility of signing elsewhere this summer. "Well, I mean I'm happy here,” he said. “I'm happy here. I'm happy with this group. At the end of the season, it's still on my decision on what I need to do for my family. That has nothing to do with my happiness here though. I've been really happy. It's a great organization to be a part of, but again, you know, I don't want people looking at this and (saying) like, 'Hey, because he said it's his happiness at the end of the day (that he’s definitely re-signing).'"
"I don't know if whether I'm going to LA, or what I'm going to do this offseason," George adds. "But I can say I am happy about being here. I'm happy with playing with Russ, happy with playing with Melo, and this organization. This front office has shown what they can do to go get pieces and how active they are about winning.”
After a ton of growing pains, it looks like the Thunder Big 3 have finally found their groove. While this group still occasionally hurts themselves by overlooking teams that would be considered lesser competition, OKC seems to show up in their marquee matchups. The Thunder are 4-1 against the top three teams in the Western Conference: the Golden State Warriors, Houston Rockets, and San Antonio Spurs.
It looks like George may have already made his mind up about his future judging from these comments, but there's a whole lot that can happen between now and the day he makes his final decision.
