LeBron James: Paul George admission made over Lakers snub ahead of Thunder clash
LOS ANGELES LAKERS head coach Luke Walton insists he and his team will pay no attention to the fact Paul George snubbed them in favour of re-signing with the Oklahoma City Thunder when the two teams go head-to-head tonight.
The Lakers face George for the first time at Staples Center (7.30pm PST/3.30am UK time) after he opted to ignore the chance to sign with the illustrious franchise in free agency.
It was expected that the small forward would return to his home state of California having stated his preference to join the Lakers in 2017 before he was traded from the Indiana Pacers to the Thunder.
But the five-time All-Star opted to remain in Oklahoma alongside Russell Westbrook, re-signing on a four-year, $137million contract.
He didn’t even take a meeting with the Lakers, such was the manner in which George was convinced by the Thunder to sign an extension in July.
The Lakers landed LeBron James from the Cleveland Cavaliers as they look to build a new championship-winning team, with George’s decision to remain with OKC allowing them the cap space to target a 2019 free agency class which includes Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard and Klay Thompson among others.
And while George would undoubtedly improve the Lakers roster had he joined the team, Walton insists he is not at all bothered by coming up against the 28-year-old again.
He declared: “I don’t think much of that. It doesn’t matter.
“You prep yourself, you do your work and then whatever’s gonna happen is gonna happen.
You don’t get too emotionally attached to it
“You don’t get too emotionally attached to it. We went after players, LeBron decided to come, Paul didn’t.
“That’s our team now. We’re very happy we have LeBron James on our team.”
One Laker who knows George well is former Pacers team-mate Lance Stephenson, who also came into the NBA in the same draft class.
Stephenson said: ”He's where he's at. We talk. We friends. On holidays we talk, keep in touch, we play in video games together sometimes. But for the most part, yeah, that's my boy.
“I think he improved a lot and I think he’s getting better every year.
“We gonna talk [on the court]. We gonna talk trash for sure, man. I remember in practice with the Pacers, we’d always go at each other and push each other to be better. And I feel like that made us better.”
The Lakers will be without LeBron due to an ongoing groin strain, having lost two of the three games they have been without the star since Christmas Day.
That should allow higher usage for the likes of Brandon Ingram and Josh Hart - who both starred earlier this week in a win over the Sacramento Kings.
The Lakers are 21-16 and seventh in the Western Conference with the Thunder third in the West with a 23-13 record.