I’ll help you read between the lines before you even get down to the actual quote on this one: Indiana Pacers GM Kevin Pritchard does not want former Indiana star Paul George back in free agency this summer.
Pritchard has reveled in the fact that his trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder returned such a haul in exchange for the disgruntled Paul, including Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis. The Pacers looked like the better team in their first round playoff series against the Cleveland Cavaliers, save for LeBron James going into turbo mode to save his team in seven games.
Meanwhile, George was up-and-down for the Thunder, with Oklahoma City finally falling to the Utah Jazz in round 1. Rumor has it -- gasp! -- that George will be leaving Oklahoma City this summer, and surprisingly enough the Pacers are one of the few teams with enough cap space to make a deal for George work.
So would the team want to have George back? Here’s how Pritchard answered that question to the Indy Star:
“I would want to know first that he would fit us. We’re different now, Dan. One of the things we’re about, we don’t care about big names, we don’t care about big personalities we don’t care about big brands. What we care about is being humble ...
“Anybody that fits in, yeah we’re interested ... I can’t talk on specific players. But if they don’t fit that, I’m not interested. It’s that simple.
Not humble? Potentially not a good fit? And to think, all this from the GM who apparently favorited social media posts critical of his trade.
Pritchard is up for Executive of the Year and George is headed ... somewhere. Not Indiana. Probably LA.
It looks like they’re both happy they’re apart.