It didn't take Paul George long to come to a decision on his future this summer as he quickly agreed to re-sign with the Oklahoma City Thunder as soon as free agency began on July 1.

The franchise took a huge gamble by trading for the small forward last year knowing that he could depart and leave them with nothing after 12 months.

But general manager Sam Presti rolled the dice and it paid off as they did enough to convince PG13 to commit his long-term future to OKC.

U-turn

When he chose to leave the Indiana Pacers in 2017, he informed them that his preferred destination was to return to his hometown of Los Angeles and sign with the Lakers.

It was widely believed that he had his heart set on a move back to California and L.A. tried to use this to their advantage.

The Lakers front office decided not to pursue a trade for George last summer as they were confident that they could land him as a free agent.

But this backfired horribly on them as the five-time All-Star didn't even take a meeting with the franchise.

In a recent appearance on Chris Pfaff's Short Story Long podcast, the 28-year-old revealed how the purple and gold were angry that they weren't given a chance to hold talks with him.

"L.A. was pissed at me," he said. "I didn't give Magic [Johnson] a [meeting], which I understand.

"But at that point, I knew I wanted to give it another shot. I didn't want to prolong it and waste people's time."

The All-NBA forward was born in Los Angeles County and went to college at Fresno State. L.A, therefore, looked like an obvious destination but the Thunder made a huge impression on him.

He credited Presti for taking a risk and he also developed a close relationship with Russell Westbrook.

Ultimately, it was an easy decision for George to make and he told Pfaff he "just felt comfortable" during his one campaign with the team.

"Coming down to free agency, I didn't want to waste any time," he said. "I wanted to give it another shot.

"I gave them one year. We played well against the best teams. I wanted to give it a real shot."

The veteran signed a four-year deal worth $137 million to remain in Oklahoma City and he'll hope to make a better attempt at competing for a championship next season.

The Lakers did still end up as the big winners in free agency, though, as they landed LeBron James, so their anger couldn't have lasted long having attracted the best player in the league.

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