Matthew Glenesk

matthew.glenesk@indystar.com

Paul George to Los Angeles was a trendy rumor during last summer's offseason.

The hometown kid was about to finish out his rookie contract and the Lakers would soon have boatloads of cap space opening up to make a run at the Pacers' star forward.

But there was never really any danger of George leaving Pennsylvania Street for Sunset Boulevard, and George signed a five-year, $90 million extension with the Pacers prior to the 2013-14 season.

"I have obligations in Indiana to get the job done and win championships and get a trophy there," George told the Los Angeles Daily News this weekend. "It would be awesome to play at home. But I love where I am."

George, who was back in his home state of California putting on his annual youth camp there, said Lakers fans weren't shy about wanting to bring the Palmdale, Calif. native home.

"It was great as well as a little overboard," he said. "It was great in the sense of Lakers fans and Los Angeles in general wanting me to come home and play for the Lakers and play at home."

But George said had he gone home, the pressure would have been a lot to bear.

"You have to come and perform. There's constantly stars coming to games. It's just a lot of pressure and a lot of people and eyes are on you and a lot of distractions in L.A."

This season, the Pacers had the pressure of high expectations, and didn't meet them George told the Daily News.

"We were still a great team. We still had pieces, despite the year we had. We had the pieces to win a championship," George said. "Ultimately we couldn't put it together at the right time. Had we started the playoffs in November or December we'd probably be holding up a trophy. We peaked too early."

LEARN SOMETHING NEW EVERYDAY

Hoosier native and ardent Indy sports supporter David Letterman welcomed comedian Hannibal Burress to the 'Late Show' last week.

During the interview, the conversation veered toward Pelicans and NBA team names. Of course, Letterman saw an opportunity to name drop his hometown team.

Letterman: You know the Indiana Pacers?

Burress: Yeah, it's a car right?

Letterman: No.

Burress: The pace car!

Letterman: No.

Burress: Sorry.

Letterman: Well, there's no penalty. It's a kind of trotting horse, harness racing horse, there's a gait that they call pacing, that's named after a pacing horse. Pacers.

Burress: You learn something new everyday.

OOPS

ESPN came out with their annual NFL quarterback rankings courtesy of Ron Jaworski.

You'd think the network would be able to correctly spell the name of their No. 1 QB, you know, some guy named Manning.