Paul George: Trade To Clippers Was A Lot Deeper Than Basketball Reasons
Paul George revealed that his move from the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Los Angeles Clippers went beyond simply his ability to best compete for a title.
\"[People] think it was a basketball move,\" George told ESPN\'s Ramona Shelburne. \"And for a lot of reasons, it was a basketball move. But that\'s not where it comes from.
\"It was a lot deeper than me coming here for basketball reasons.\"
Paul\'s mother had a severe stroke when he was just six years old and she was 36.
\"She was almost at, like, a vegetative state,\" George recalls of the early days in the hospital. \"She was unrecognizable, she couldn\'t communicate, she couldn\'t talk, she was going blind.\"
George\'s mother nearly died.
\"My mom is all about defying odds, because odds was stacked up against her,\" George said. \"They said my mom wouldn\'t walk again. They said my mom wouldn\'t talk again. They said she would be completely paralyzed, that her vision wouldn\'t come back. And she defied all of that.\"
George\'s mother still has difficulty moving around. George attended Fresno State and the family relocated there so they could continue attending his games, but it became more difficult when he drafted by the Indiana Pacers in 2010.
\"My mom doesn\'t complain,\" George said. \"But having conversations with her, it\'s hard for her to get on planes and travel.
\"For me to be able to come to her and make it a lot easier for the travel on her and my dad, that was one of the biggest reasons I wanted to come back and play at home.\"
When the Pacers went from title contender to fringe playoff team, George began considering leaving when he became a free agent in 2018. The Lakers were a contender but they were unable to trade for him and he was eventually moved to the Oklahoma City Thunder and he decided to re-sign in 2018.
