Paul George says Pacers had no locker room issues last season
The Indiana Pacers’ decline during the second half of the 2013-14 season with trivial. Yes it had a lot to do with how the team performed on the floor. Teams began to play the Pacers as if they were the best team in the league. Combine that with the brief struggles of Paul George and Roy Hibbert and you’ve the recipe for disaster.
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But that never felt like a good enough reason for the then-best team in the league to look like one of the worst teams in the league. Immediately, many began to dig deeper, wondering if there were a handful of issues looming in the Pacers locker room, but according to Pacers superstar Paul George who’s currently practicing with Team USA, Indy had no off-the-court issues with each other.
"As for the off-court drama, George said: “We had no locker room issues. You are going to clash. You got guys that got into it. But there was nothing that broke our chemistry. We were still [close] as a team.”"
George’s words sound good, but it’s difficult to believe this is true. According to reports, the core of the Pacers was upset at the Danny Granger trade. Roy Hibbert’s ‘selfish comments’ point toward an issue off the court. There’s also the fight that occurred between Evan Turner and Lance Stephenson. All three examples–and surely there are more–sound like “locker room issues”.
We’ll never know the honest truth of what led to the Pacers demise. We’ll just have to take George’s words and run with them until substantial proof proves otherwise.