By this point in the season, it’s become painfully obvious to the Philadelphia 76ers that bringing in Paul George was not the right move. Even more obvious is that James Harden was actually the better fit in Philly. Between the injuries and declining stats, it’s clear that George is no longer one of the elite players in the NBA.
You can blame George’s decline on age, a lack of focus or too much podcasting, but the bottom line is, that PG is not the player he once was. A former MVP candidate (finished 3rd in 2019), George’s numbers had begun to slowly decline the past couple of years and have just about fallen off a cliff this season.
In 40 games with the Sixers this season, George is averaging just 16.5 points per game and shooting 36.4 percent from behind the arc. George went to Philly in search of the championship that eluded him everywhere else. The 76ers are 21-39 this year, which isn’t entirely George’s fault but his output hasn’t been what the Clippers traded for.
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Clippers fans saw this Paul George decline coming
However, this scene is all too familiar to LA Clippers fans. The watched George come up short when it mattered for five years with the Clippers alongside Kawhi Leonard. Other than a run to the Western Conference Finals in ’21 where the Clippers fell to the Phoenix Suns in six games without Leonard, that team greatly underachieved otherwise.
It didn’t matter who the Clippers added to help George and Leonard, the result was the same. Now, the Sixers are finding out exactly what Clippers fans dealt with for five years. It doesn’t help that Joel Embiid continues to fall apart and has played just 19 games himself. But at least when Embiid was out there, he contributed 23.8 ppg and 8.2 rpg.
Recently, George went on his “Podcast P” podcast and announced that he was stepping away from podcasting to focus on basketball. This announcement came during the last week of February. So barely one week ago with the Sixers dwelling outside of the play-in tournament. Philadelphia is currently in 12th place in the Eastern Conference at 21-39 with all hope lost for this campaign. Clippers fans must be sitting back belly laughing at the absurdity of what the Sixers have gotten themselves into.