Paul George is looking at his Philly return as a ‘regular game’ after short Sixers stint
George, who is on his fifth NBA team, said if he had been in Philadelphia “eight, nine, 10 years, different story.”
Paul George has been in this situation a few times.
On Tuesday night, George will be coming to a building he used to call home after the Sixers dealt him for Jaylen Brown this offseason. Now on his fifth NBA team, the feeling of a game like this won’t be that much different from any other night on an individual level for him.
“It’s a regular game, that’s how I’m treating it,” George said. “Obviously it’ll be fun to play against those guys and compete against them, but it’s a regular game for me.”
George said if he had been in Philadelphia “eight, nine, 10 years, different story.”
But the length of his tenure, which included him missing over half the games because of injury and suspension, was only two seasons. All told, George only played 78 regular season games and made one postseason appearance in Philly.
“So that kind of played into a lot of it,” George said. “But, you know, obviously it’s a tremendous fan base, a great sports town to play in. So that was appreciated. But there’s no ill will for me. It’ll be, again, fun to just compete.”
George wasn’t sure how the fans might react, saying “in some ways, I helped land a future piece for them,” referencing the trade for Brown.
“I’m not sure how the reception will be,” he said.
George already got to face some of his former teammates with the Sixers when the teams squared off in Boston during the preseason.
“I love those guys,” George said on Oct. 10. “… It’s still a brotherhood over there, and so it was great to see those guys and now compete against them.”
He’ll get to do that when it counts Tuesday. George has played in nine of the Celtics’ 10 games and is averaging 20.4 points per game while shooting 42.5% from three-point range.
“I think it exceeded my expectations since being in Boston. You never know what how much culture is involved and how much culture changes your outlook on things. Just the effect it has mentally, physically, just being in an environment, like the culture [that] Boston presents. So I’ve been thrilled playing some of my best basketball of late.”
