The Philadelphia 76ers will be without star forward Paul George for a 25-game stretch.
The Philadelphia 76ers received some stunning news on Saturday regarding their star forward Paul George. The league announced that George has been suspended for 25 games without pay as a result of violating the league’s anti-drug policy. George released a statement to ESPN taking full responsibility and spoke about mental health, claiming that he was seeking treatment for an issue and “made the mistake of taking an improper medication.” That suspension will sideline George for nearly the rest of the regular season. It will begin on Saturday night against the New Orleans Pelicans.
When George is eligible to return, there will only be ten regular season games remaining. It’s a hefty financial hit as well, as the suspension will cost George approximately $11.7 million of his $51.7 million salary, or around $469k per game missed. It’s a hit to the 76ers just as much, as they were enjoying a solid campaign as the team surged back from an injury-filled season last year to be in sixth place in the Eastern Conference at the time of George’s suspension.
Here is the full story from 76ers Roundtable writer Anthony Pasciolla on the stunning announcement.
George is averaging 16 points per game, 5.1 rebounds, and 3.7 assists while shooting 38.2 percept from the 3-point range. He was healthy and ready to go in full ahead of the matchup against the Pelicans. Now, the star trio of George, Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey will see the latter two try to become a star duo and step up to carry Philadelphia to the postseason – or get them close enough to pull it off in George’s late regular-season return.