Pacers President of Basketball Operations Kevin Pritchard spoke with reporters after the 2017 NBA Draft late Thursday, into Friday morning. The Pacers had drafted three players, including UCLA’s T.J. Leaf at No. 18. It was his first draft with the organization as president, elevated to this role after Larry Bird decided to step down.
But for more than 17 minutes, the conversation centered around Paul George and his change of heart, according to Pritchard, who spoke candidly but was obviously frustrated.
“For me it was a gut-punch,” he said. “It was a total gut-punch because we’d had many conversations over the summer about players that we’d like to add, a little bit of the style that we’d like to play, and I was, in my opinion, very inclusive with him. And the message over the summer, up until this weekend was ‘Let’s build a winning team.’ And so when that came in that he wanted to look at another place, it was a gut-punch for us.”
With the draft now over, George remains a Pacer. Pritchard, admitting that George’s message couldn’t have come at a worse time, is still confident they will get a good deal done.
“We’re not going to make a bad deal. We want to get what we want and that’s what we pursue. We’re going to do something that we feel comfortable with.
“Right now there’s enough on the board that we feel good about, that we could pull the trigger at any time.”
Watch as Pritchard discusses the situation and what’s next:
AUDIO:
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