NEW YORK -- Nearly two years after suffering a horrific leg injury in a Team USA basketball scrimmage in Las Vegas, Indiana Pacers forward Paul George is relishing the opportunity to represent his country at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil.
"It's been a whirlwind. It's been a roller coaster," George said Monday. "But I think when you have a goal as a kid, it's hard to knock it and it's hard to shy away from it because of an injury. It's something I've always wanted to do since I was a kid, so I'm just fortunate and grateful that I was able to return to form and come back to being the player that I was and to get this opportunity again to play for the gold medal."
On Aug. 1, 2014, George suffered a compound fracture in his right leg and was forced to miss all but six games at the end of the 2014-15 season. But the 26-year-old All-Star re-established himself as one of the best players in the NBA the following year, averaging 23.1 points per game during the regular season and 27.3 points during the playoffs.
While making a decision to compete for Team USA, George was undeterred by the injury or the Zika virus. But he did wonder if it might be better to rest than play.
Ultimately, because the Pacers were eliminated in the first round and he had some time off before the start of the Olympics, George decided to give it a go.
Indiana president Larry Bird has been active in the offseason in trying to upgrade the team's roster. After replacing Frank Vogel with Nate McMillan as head coach, Bird acquired point guard Jeff Teague and power forward Thaddeus Young in separate trades; the Young deal cannot be finalized until July for salary-cap reasons.
"Well, first and foremost, it's always a sad time to lose a close friend and brother (in a trade). George [Hill] was someone I was really close with, but at the same time, we have to look at the future and what we can do moving forward and I love the addition of Jeff," George said. "I think if he's healthy, he can get back to an All-Star level, and Thad is very underrated. I think people tend to forget about him because the Brooklyn Nets aren't necessarily a good team. So I'm looking forward to seeing what Thad adds and what he can bring to this pretty decent team that we have."
With the moves, George hopes the Pacers can continue to grow and get deeper in the playoffs in 2016-17.
"We definitely left a lot out there (last season)," George said. "If you look at the season, we had the most games that were decided by five points or [fewer]. And I can only put that on the fact that it was our first time being together as a group with all the additions we had and me coming back to the team ... and it showed in the playoffs. The inexperience and the chemistry just wasn't there late in games, but I'm looking forward to growing and really taking off from where we left last season, and Jeff and Thaddeus will definitely be a difference with about 10 or so wins that we didn't get last season."