July 1, 2024, was a triumphant day for the Philadelphia 76ers. Their year-long plan of preparing cap space had paid off by landing Paul George, the top free agent in his class, to play with Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey in a renewed effort to dominate the Eastern Conference. Two years to the day, George was shipped out of Philadelphia in the most unexpected way possible.
The disastrous start to George’s tenure in Philly was more predictable than many Sixers fans had realized at the time. An injury
in his first preseason game kicked off a year one that never got off the ground. George was never able to get his body right, he was constantly rushing to get back on the floor to aid an Embiid who was also struggling with just being available to play.
After just the first year, George’s contract was widely regarded as one of the worst in the league and a massive anchor around the Sixers’ future. That fact wasn’t helped when George suffered another injury in the offseason, and would once again miss the first few weeks of the regular season.
When he was on the floor in 2025-26, he looked more like the Paul George the Sixers thought they were signing. Just as he and the team were gaining momentum it was again halted, as George got hit with a 25-game suspension for drug use.
The time off was certainly a detriment to the team’s seeding — they would end up having to fight through the Play-In tournament to secure a playoff appearance. The 25 games away was just the refresher the 36-year-old needed, though. In the last 10 games of the regular season he averaged 21 points and 5.7 rebounds a game shooting 47% from the field and 41% from three-point range.
That strong play extended into the postseason. In their round one series win over the Boston Celtics, George averaged 17.4 points per game shooting 55% from three-point range while playing stout defense on the likes of Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum.
He was so productive for the Sixers there was hope they wouldn’t have to attach too many assets to dump George’s contract. The Sixers weren’t just able to do that, they were able to get an All-NBA player in return for George in the form of Brown himself.
The acquisition for Brown is so exciting and such a win on paper that it’s easy to write off George’s time as a Sixer entirely. He’ll go down as one of the biggest reasons the Sixers had to transition out of this Joel Embiid-centric era. He’ll be remembered as the guy whose attempts to quit podcasting were ultimately useless in saving the 24-win season of 2024-25.
He can also be remembered as a key cog in the Sixers’ most exciting playoff win in over four decades. He can be remembered as a guy who helped end an era of Celtics basketball and kickstart a new one for Philly in the process.
It’s tough to remember a guy as instrumental in the Sixers’ worst season of the decade fondly, but it’s also tough to look on anyone who helped a 3-1 series comeback harshly. George’s legacy in Philadelphia should be as complicated as parsing through his production with the Sixers. The swing taken on him in 2024 sure as hell didn’t work out, but at the end of the day, it got them Jaylen Brown.
