BOSTON — As he embarks on his Year 17 NBA season, Paul George has heard it all.
He knows he’s been counted out by most of the basketball world after several injury-riddled campaigns that saw him perform well below his previous All-Star levels. He knows how his four-year, $211.58 million maximum contract, signed two summers ago, is widely perceived (spoiler alert: it hasn’t been viewed as a steal).
But on Celtics Media Day, George made clear that he’s confident that he has plenty left in the tank. He
might not be in his physical prime — he might not be Indiana Pacers Paul George, or Oklahoma City MVP candidate Paul George — but he’s still really darn good.
(For reference, George averaged 17.4 points per game while shooting 48.9% from the field in 7 playoff games against the Celtics last Spring, and taking turns guarding Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum).
On Monday afternoon, donning a Celtics jersey for the first time, George attributed some of his more underwhelming stretches in recent years to injuries that he tried to persevere through. And this year, fresh off his first fully-healthy offseason in years, he’s ready to show the world what he’s capable of.
“I think the most frustrating thing about it is when a player is not healthy — but he tries everything to put it all on the line, tries to be available for his team, knowing that he’s not fully 100%, and then people are saying ‘Oh, he’s not this, he’s not that,’” he said. “Like, the fact of the matter was I wasn’t healthy; I was trying to play through injuries and be available and give everything that I had to the team, when I maybe — I probably — should have took a little more time off to let my body fully heal. And so, to hear that he’s not capable of this or he’s ‘washed’, it’s frustrating just because it’s like, I’m still capable of doing those things when healthy and I feel like my body is is back healthy. I feel I’m capable of doing those things again.’”
For his career, George averaged 20.5 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game. From 2015 to 2024, he never averaged below 21 points per game. But in his last two seasons in Philadelphia, his numbers declined across the board; he averaged 16.2 in 2024-2025 and 17.3 points in 2025-2026 while playing 78 games across both seasons.
When he was formally introduced earlier in September, George said he felt reborn.
“This summer really was a chance to continue to work: strengthen my body, strengthen my knee,” he said. “It’s almost like a kind of rebirth, or reborn again — to be in a system, to be in a winning culture, a winning environment, and to feel good. To be able to work, to be able to train again in the summers — my summers the last couple of years were dedicated to rehab.”
Still, his biggest motivation won’t be motivating the naysayers and critics, it’s showing himself what he’s capable of.
It’s reminding himself that the physical limitations he faced over the past couple of years were a result of injuries and surgeries that have since healed.
“It’s more so from a personal standpoint,” George said. “It’s not about going out and trying to drop 30 every night. I think it’s more so about being available, being efficient, being consistent, and I think, again, for myself, just proving that, when healthy, I’m able to do what I’ve done in my career, and I don’t judge it off of what I’ve done while being injured. It’s two different tales, I think, and so I’m erring on the side of what can I do when I’m healthy.’”
Paul George looks forward to excelling alongside Jayson Tatum
George’s mindset on Media Day was consistent with what he expressed in his introductory press conference two weeks ago: he’s not trying to turn back the clock to his prime, when he was often his teams’ leading scorer. But he does want to excel in a complementary role to Jayson Tatum.
“I’m here to help JT. He’s the guy,” George said then. “I’ve played alongside another superstar wing, and we coexisted beautifully. I see this with myself, with JT, being able to play off him.”
Fittingly, George walked into his Media Day press conference as Tatum was mid-answer to a question about George’s impact on him as a young basketball player.
“I’m around that generation of kids that kind of grew up watching him play, especially when I was in middle school and high school,” Tatum said.
George dapped up Tatum as he took his place at the podium: “That was sentimental.”
In a few short weeks, the two will take the court together. And George looks forward to returning to the high level of play he feels he is capable of.
