NBA players have long yearned to control their own narrative. Starting their own podcast became the new wave at the dawn of the 2020s with Paul George’s ‘Podcast P’ being one of the most recognized shows of them all. Unfortunately for ‘Podcast P’ fans, they won’t be treated to new episodes any time soon, irking Gilbert Arenas.
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Paul George took to his pod to somberly address the audience about his upcoming absence from the pod. “I plan to take a break from the pod just to focus on getting my body right, getting mentally right,” said PG.
He’s been incessantly clowned upon by fans online for making this decision this late into the season. If he was truly game for taking this year as seriously as possible, shouldn’t he have stopped doing his podcast from the beginning of the 2024-25 campaign? That has been the ever-present query on people’s minds.
Arenas seems to be fairly skeptical on George’s sudden change of heart. He’s gone as far as to suggest that there is no difference between doing your own podcast versus doing team interviews pre and post-game.
“If you’re gonna stop podcasting, are you gonna stop doing interviews? Because it’s the same thing. Instead of interviewing with them, you’re doing an interview with your own people.”
NBA media forced Paul George to quit on Podcast P smh #gillion pic.twitter.com/AzYVEuPYA4
— Gilbert Arenas (@GilsArenaShow) March 2, 2025
There isn’t all too much validity to this statement from Gil. Doing your own podcast takes up more time given the fact that you’re scheduling all of your programming and the entirety of the show hinges upon your capabilities. Interviews for the media do not require all that much effort as you can quite easily phone it in.
The overarching notion here however, is the fact that players should not be ‘hated’ for doing their own podcast. The general public is obsessed with NBA players in particular not having any hobbies outside of practicing, getting reps in, and going to the gym.
Putting the time and effort to record and post a pod is about the same as say, playing golf. Several players such as Chris Paul, Zach Lavine, and more actively partake in golf multiple times in a week and yet it’s crickets online when it comes to bashing them. The same should be done for podcasting athletes.
Paul George and the 76ers likely will not make the play-in tournament let alone the Playoffs. George has been catching a bit of a stride lately, averaging 18.6 points in his last 5 games but it clearly will not be enough for a late season push. Joel Embiid being ruled out for the season was the nail in the coffin.
