Paul George plans to play for Team USA in Olympics

Paul George left his last Team USA workout on a stretcher with his lower leg immobilized and surgery and months of rehab, not a gold medal game, ahead of him.

But the Indiana Pacers' All-Star forward said he's planning to give the Olympics another shot this summer rather than steering clear of the venue where his gruesome ankle injury took place.

"I want to give it a shot," George said in an ESPN interview, the same day he was named the cover athlete of video game NBA2K17.

George, 26, injured his right leg and ankle in a Las Vegas exhibition game as part of Team USA preparations on August 2, 2014. He missed 76 games in 2014-15 recovering from surgery.

"I was just hesitant on the simple fact that, the past couple years has obviously been tough for me -- just felt like I didn't have enough time to myself, and time to recover, and you know, give my body a rest," George said on SportsCenter. "I didn't want to jump out of a season, jump right into the Olympics. But I think I kind of said that too prematurely. I didn't give myself enough time to really think it through. I think since I've been off, my body's telling me yes, my mind is telling me yes, people around me are telling me yes. So I feel good about it."

The 12-man Team USA roster will be unveiled later this month. But George was one of 31 finalists named for the 2016 U.S. Olympic team in January and USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo promised George in 2014 that he would have a spot if he wanted it.

After a four-day training camp and five exhibition games in various locations, Team USA heads to Rio de Janeiro for Olympic pool play August 6-21.