George fell in love with OKC: 'I don't need no big cities'

Paul George doesn't regret his decision to stay with the Oklahoma City Thunder instead of going to play for his hometown Los Angeles Lakers.

"I wanted to come back home," George told Ben Golliver of Sports Illustrated. "To play for home, to put that jersey on for family and for what I grew up watching. I wanted to carry that legacy. But I went to Oklahoma, fell in love with it, and I'm happy with the decision."

The 28-year-old is a native of Palmdale, Calif., but with a young family and well-chronicled love of outdoor activities, it made sense for him to stay in Oklahoma and avoid the spotlight of L.A.

"I'm a family man now," George said. "I don't need no distractions, I don't need no big cities, no big lights, at this point in my career. For as beautiful as Oklahoma is, it doesn't have big lights and none of that. But that's fine. I'm a low-maintenance, low-key, chill guy. I'm not out in the streets, I'm not out in the club, at parties, I'm not really at movie premieres. After games, after practice, I'm home, I'm with my kids, I'm with my girl, and I'm chilling."

The decision to stay was also influenced by general manager Sam Presti, who is "still being aggressive in trades, still pulling strings, still making deals happen," according to George.

With the disgruntled Carmelo Anthony being jettisoned, and Dennis Schroder added to bring in scoring off the bench, George is ready to go at the best in the West with Russell Westbrook and the rest of his teammates next season.

"I went to war, I went to battle, we made the playoffs, we were in the hunt, and we stuck together all year long. You never heard of any turmoil, no matter how we played, in the locker room. We built a real brotherhood there and I didn't want to walk away from that."