Paul George on if he still wants to head to the Lakers in free agency: ‘We’ll see’

The Los Angeles Lakers may be in the middle of being investigated for tampering with former Indiana Pacers star Paul George, but during a brief interview at the Floyd Mayweather vs. Connor McGregor weigh-in in Las Vegas Friday, George made it clear him actually heading to the purple and gold isn’t a certainty.

“We’ll see,” George said when asked about all the rumors that he ultimately wants to end up in Los Angeles even though he was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder this summer. “I’m a Thunder, and my job is to give them the best I have this year and see what happens after that.”

It’s not surprising George isn’t willing to commit to the Lakers during a televised interview. For one, he’s still under contract with another team, and unlike Magic Johnson seems to be aware that winking is a pretty transparent way to indicate tampering. George also may be legitimately unsure of what he’s going to do next, just like most people don’t have any idea what they’re going to be doing in a year’s time with absolute certainty.

George has been rumored to be “hell bent” on joining the Lakers since the 2017 NBA trade deadline, and the noise got loud enough that the Pacers decided to shoot their shot from halfcourt and see if they could get the Lakers in trouble for tampering.

With all of the whispers about his interest and the tampering case, the noise around George and Los Angeles doesn’t seem set to die down anytime soon. Between rumors about him and the separate ones about LeBron James’ increasing desire to sign with the Lakers, it’s going to be a long season for people who hate the gossipy type of NBA coverage.

Harrison Faigen is co-host of the Locked on Lakers podcast (subscribe here), and you can follow him on Twitter at @hmfaigen.