David West attempted to explain his decision to opt out of his contract with the Indiana Pacers for free agency.

The decision doesn't appear to be a financial one for West as he's expected to take a pay cut.

One area West had a problem with was how the Pacers tried to get Roy Hibbert to opt out.

"That's one thing where I wish they would have handled better was the situation with Roy," West said. "I'll be honest with you, that bothered me a little bit, and I told Roy that. I'm the type of guy who feels like we're all in this fight together and I'm not designed in that way to put it all on one guy. That did rub me the wrong way. That threw me off. I started reading some of that stuff, I started thinking, 'Whoaa.' I just didn't feel good about that. I told Roy that it bothered me, that he's still my teammate.

"You know, obviously Roy wants to play, he knows he's unpopular right now, but we talked and he's going to be a professional. He's always been a professional. He's had his ups and downs but he's always been a pro and been diligent about his work. He's working to get better. He's going to fight. He's not going to be one of those guys who's going to become a locker room issue.

"But that was not the straw that broke the camel's back.

"I just watched those finals, and I thought, 'Man, I've got to give myself a chance.' That's the reason I made this decision.‘'