Paul George’s first season with the Philadelphia 76ers has been underwhelming. The 34-year-old is struggling to raise his performance to anywhere near the All-Star level he is known for. To make matters worse, he is also taking injections to play through pain. Shannon Sharpe and Chad Johnson discussed the forward’s precarious situation, mulling whether it was time for the Sixers to give PG a rest amidst his on-court struggles.
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Most players wouldn’t go through the lengths that George has been doing to play through his injuries. Of late, PG has been struggling with an extensor tendon injury that has forced him to take injections and heavily tape his left pinky finger while playing.
Sharpe reiterated that injections are typically used to help players power through injuries during important postseason matchups, and not during random regular-season games. The NFL legend then highlighted how that has led to George’s ghastly stats this year. And the numbers are telling!
“10 points, 3 rebounds, and 3 assists per game in February,” Sharpe said. That’s the lowest since his third season in 2012-13. Johnson questioned why George was trying so hard to play if he was hurting so badly. “Cause [George is] making $50 million a year,” Sharpe responded bluntly.
Ochocinco was still confused as to why George would deliberately play through injury only to hurt his team and his own numbers in the process.
“What happened is Ocho, is that [George] is with a new team,” Sharpe added. “And when you go to a new team, you wanna put your best foot forward.”
Sharpe knows PG is trying to make as good of a first impression on the Philly faithful. “Now, maybe if was with the [Los Angeles] Clippers he probably wouldn’t do this. Maybe if he was at Indiana he probably wouldn’t do this. But he is in a new environment and things are not going [well],” added Sharpe.
Once viewed as a massive offseason upgrade over Tobias Harris, the Sixers’ big free-agent swing with George has been nothing short of a disaster.
George’s struggles have created pessimism regarding his Philly tenure
George had three All-Star appearances in the last four seasons. However, his averages and efficiency have taken a nosedive in year 5.
With three more seasons on his massive four-year, $212 million deal with the 76ers, George won’t be finding a new home anytime soon, either.
Considering George will likely play out the entirety of his new contract in Philadelphia, it may be in the franchise’s best interest to get him as much rest as possible.
With Joel Embiid missing huge chunks of time himself, the 20-35 Sixers are already a longshot to make the playoffs this season. The team might as well regroup and see if it was injuries that held George back or if his prime has simply come to an end.
