You may have heard that the Indiana Pacers have a Paul George problem. George, who turns 27 in May, has spent the better part of this season bookending stellar on-court performances with comments on how frustrating and exhausting things have become with the Pacers.

Hours before taking on the Boston Celtics, who were linked to George in trade rumors just a few weeks ago, George sounded off about all that has been asked of him.

“Usually I had two jobs -- be the best defender and the best scorer," George said Wednesday. "Now it's, be the leader, be the toughness guy, be the enforcer. It's just a lot of roles that I've had to pick up this season. And that's what's been the toll. That's what's been the roughest part of it. It's how do you put energy in every bit of places. And I've grown with it, I've gotten better throughout the season, as the season's gone on, as different matchups have gone on, how to approach different teams. But it's been a task."

Real doubts about George’s future with the Pacers ignited at the trade deadline last month when his name was the most prominent one passed along on the rumor mill. Since then, George has alternated between professing his love for Indiana and his displeasure about as often as the team has alternated wins and losses. 

Consider these contrasting statements:

On Feb. 17, George told ESPN Radio: “I want to be the first to bring a championship to Indiana. So that’s still on my mind … and something I definitely want to achieve in Indiana.”

Less than a week later, George openly discussed his frustrations with how the Feb. 23 trade deadline played out: “I kind of was on the ropes just like you guys were on what was about to happen. It was kind of dark moment of uncertainty. That was the frustrating part. You want me to be your guy here, I thought I would be in the loop a little more than that.”

Then when asked if he wanted to remain with the Pacers on Wednesday, George said: “Yeah, if we have a great team here, why not?

The drama surrounding George’s discontent is magnified by his lack of a long-term contract and the economics surrounding that. A four-time All-Star, he can become an unrestricted free agent after next season. He’s less than 16 months away from picking and choosing which franchises will court him come July 1, 2018.

Back in August I wrote about the choices the Pacers and George had going forward. Ironically enough, the likelihood of George remaining with the team seems less likely even though the new collective bargaining agreement has further incentivized superstars sticking around. No one can offer George more money than the Pacers, an advantage that incumbent teams have enjoyed for a while, but now the new Designated Player extension could come into play if George sneaks onto the All-NBA Third Team. As unhappy as George has appeared at times over the last seven months, it’s hard for anyone to turn down $200 million.

That brings us back to how George really feels about the Pacers -- past, present and future -- and what jersey he sees himself wearing two seasons from now. The truth may lie in the fact that George, recent unpredictability and broken leg aside, has lived a charmed NBA life.

He was far from a can’t-miss prospect when he decided to leave Fresno State and the Pacers weren’t a bad team when he arrived, but George was essentially a fixture in the starting lineup right away -- Frank Vogel unleashed him from the bench when Jim O’Brien was let go midway through George’s rookie season. 

In just his second season, George entrenched himself as part of a core that would challenge LeBron James and the Miami Heat in the playoffs three consecutive years. The Pacers took two games against the Heat in the semifinals before Miami won the title in five over the Oklahoma City Thunder. Along the way willing veterans Danny Granger and David West mentored him. He was clearly Indiana’s best player in back-to-back Eastern Conference Finals matchups against Miami when he was in just his age-22 and age-23 seasons.

George may be now realizing how good he had it.

“You always relive the glory days when they're gone," George said of the success the Pacers had as he was breaking into the NBA. "So I'm trying to bring that to this team, and that edge. But it's taken some time. It's been a toll." 

The combination of George’s fast ascension and the Pacers’ ability to build an elite team before the NBA shifted away from anchors like Roy Hibbert at center, gave him the chance to play in 54 playoff games over his first four seasons. If he hadn’t essentially lost a season after breaking his leg with Team USA, he would have been a five-time All-Star at age 26 last month. Consider this: Reggie Miller made five All-Star teams over 18 seasons. 

While he may not be as dominant as DeMarcus Cousins can be, George has the most impressive resume among 2010 draftees. He matches John Wall in All-Star berths, has more All-NBA selections than Cousins, Wall and Gordon Hayward combined and his 61 playoff appearances dwarf the combined 22 postseason games the aforementioned trio have under their belts.

Since the Pacers emerged in the East, only four other teams have advanced to the conference finals and LeBron James has been an East finalist every year since 2011. It’s been LeBron and whoever is playing second fiddle for the last six-plus years.

Players, even those of George's caliber, aren’t often so lucky. Kevin Garnett didn’t make it deep into the postseason until his age-27 season, his eighth in the league. Chris Paul has never advanced past the second round, while Carmelo Anthony has only done so once. Miller didn’t make his first conference finals with the Pacers until his age-28 season. George even has a leg up on LeBron, who played on a conference finalist for the first time in his fourth year.

In addition to early success, George also enjoyed rare continuity while Indiana was making a run at Miami. Under Vogel the Pacers had a starting five that set itself with George Hill, PG, West, Hibbert and a then-promising Lance Stephenson. The Pacers used five different starting lineups, two of which came as a result of resting players, in 2013-14. They have used 37 different lineups since, which has made building chemistry almost impossible. 

“Coming into a season, it always looks good on paper, but you are always conscious of how long it takes and the process it is to get everybody on board to a new team,” George said of whether he expected the roster to be cohesive by late March. 

“I’ve been here the longest. C.J. [Miles] hasn’t really been a part of this team long. He’s been with us for two, three years, but he hasn’t really been here. Some guys haven’t really been around for our tradition. Then you add new guys in Jeff [Teague], Thaddeus [Young] and Al [Jefferson], so it takes time. We didn’t think it would take this long. We thought at some point we’d turn the corner with all the talent we have, but that hasn’t been the case. It’s a long season and like we say, it’s zero-zero once playoffs start. We’ll fight out way into the playoffs and then it’s a new season for us.”

As strange as it sounds, the success and continuity that Paul George enjoyed in his first four seasons may now be a detriment as they attempt to keep him over the long-term.