Paul George speaks on the ‘devastation’ of his 25-game suspension, and what comes next for Sixers

Nearly two months removed from a 25-game suspension that upended his second season with the Sixers, Paul George finally broke his silence on the mistake that took him out for over a quarter of his team’s season.

“Give my apology to obviously the city of Philadelphia, my family, my teammates, the organization, everybody that was affected through this suspension,” George said at a presser on Tuesday. 

“As a leader of this group and being brought here to be a leader and help bring that edge and possibility and chance to win here, to let people down hurts more than kind of anything going through this process. But shout out to the guys for having my back, supporting me through this time, to where now things are on the positive side, looking forward to tomorrow and being available, giving everything I got.”

The veteran wing, who released a statement through ESPN blaming the suspension on his desire to seek mental health treatment, declined to comment on the specific substance that triggered his suspension. George referred to that as a personal matter, though he did shine some light on why he says he was struggling in the first place. He said that physical limitations weighed on his mind in the middle of his second year in Philadelphia, leading to poor decisionmaking.

“Being a pro athlete takes a toll on you, and my body wasn’t where I wanted it to be, and the expectation to perform because of my body not being where I wanted it to be, obviously I’m going to have an expectation on myself,” George said. “That’s what led the poor decision at the time. But I’ve said it throughout my career dealing with mental health, I’m no superhero, I’m human, and I made a mistake in that moment.”

As you’d expect, George viewed his long absence as a major negative for the team and himself, but noted one silver lining — a potential clean bill of health. George is expected to be in the lineup with minimal restriction starting with their matchup against Chicago on Wednesday, and with injuries elsewhere in the lineup, he noted he is ready to come back and play aggressive scorer from the jump.

“I’ve been feeling great preparing and working out, staying in shape, I’ve been feeling great. Feeling explosive again, feeling strong again, so I feel like I’m back on that level of being able to perform and be the focal guy, be the scorer, so that’s my mindset going into tomorrow [vs. Chicago], is to get back to being aggressive,” George said. “Obviously, there will be some rust, with missing 25 games, especially this part of the season where guys are playing playoff basketball, so to speak. I’m just looking forward to being full-fledged thrown out there in the mix, and just being aggressive. Whatever happens, happens.” 

“The knee is good, it’s in a better place, I feel confident in it. I’m ready to go, I feel good.”

George, who last appeared in the Sixers’ crunch-time win over the Sacramento Kings on January 29th, has been sorely missed by a Philadelphia team ravaged by injury. They have managed to stay above water during that time period with a 13-12 record, thanks to a schedule heavy on tanking or otherwise downtrodden opponents, but have struggled to stay competitive against playoff-caliber teams.

Philadelphia hasn’t beaten a team with a record above .500 since its win over Miami in late February, which featured a rare appearance for Joel Embiid before his latest stint on the injured list. Injury complications for Embiid and the loss of Tyrese Maxey and Kelly Oubre to subsequent issues have led to a few positives, like the emergence of Justin Edwards, but George lamented the time lost during a period of the season where he felt the Sixers were getting their legs under them. 

“Obviously, it was devastation there,” George said, “especially with where we were at. I believe we were the fifth seed. I think we had just won a game against Sacramento, and we had been playing good basketball. So there was some devastation of the momentum that was being built. I think I was starting to trend in a better place; my body was getting better and better over that time.”

The only blessing of George’s suspension is that he has been able to stay as involved as a practice player can be without setting foot in an NBA arena on game nights. George has been the captain of the Sixers’ scout team, masquerading as players like Luka Doncic, Shai Gligeous-Alexander, and other NBA stars who are at the top of Philadelphia scouting reports. George has been frequently seen mentoring young players like VJ Edgecombe and Justin Edwards, taking them through drills to try to guide them toward the next level.

George’s tutelage of Edgecombe has centered around weaponizing the rookie’s athleticism more often while adjusting to NBA tempo, and the veteran has found great joy in the recent success of his young teammate. 

“I’ve been trying to help him develop with slowing the game down, picking and choosing his spots, and just being at peace with his game, being under control,” George said. “Over the past 25 games, especially the past 7-8 games, it just feels like the game is starting to slow down for him. He’s starting to see things differently, he’s getting to his spots, he’s raising up and playing comfortable in the midrange area, which we’ve worked a ton on. I see it, it’s fun for me to watch his process right now, because a lot of things we’ve been working on he’s picking up and it’s starting to be like second nature.”