Paul George: Returning to Team USA 'a redemption to myself'

Even as multiple high-profile U.S. candidates withdrew from this summer's Rio Olympics, citing everything from fatigue to injury to the Zika virus, Paul George jumped at the chance to participate.

If anyone had reason to opt out, it was George, who just two years ago horrifically broke his left leg during a Team USA scrimmage in Las Vegas. And yet, he returned this week to the scene of the freak injury that cost him nearly a year of his career, and is looking forward to competing in Rio next month.

"It means a lot," George said during Team USA's pre-Olympic training camp in Vegas, according to ESPN's Dave McMenamin. "This is like really a redemption to myself. All the bad that happened on that night, I owed myself this opportunity to come back out here and compete for my country."

After missing all but six games in 2014-15 while rehabbing the injury, George returned to form and then some this past season, averaging a career-high 23.1 points to go along with seven rebounds, 4.1 assists, and 1.9 steals in 81 games. In the playoffs, he was even better, putting up 27.3 points, 7.6 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and two steals while very nearly leading his Indiana Pacers to an upset of the second-seeded Toronto Raptors.

"It's one of the great stories of this group," said USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo. "I mean, when you think about it, when you think back to the tragedy when the injury took place, no one could have projected where he would be. And was his career over? Was his career going to be limited because of the injury? Would he ever come back fully? And to see him back and to see what he's accomplished back in the league, it's like he didn't miss a beat."

USA head coach Mike Krzyzewski admits that at the time, he wasn't sure George would make it back for the Olympics.

"I remember being in a hospital with him," Krzyzewski said. "You try to envision and talk about, 'Well, in Rio, you'll be there.' And you hope that you believe that, you think you do, but then maybe that's not going to happen. And it is. And hopefully we win, and that would be an even better story."

For his part, George insists he isn't even thinking about the injury.

"I'm just enjoying it," he said. "This trip is not about the injury. That's behind me. It happened. I'm over it. It's about preparing for a gold medal."