Injuries have derailed Paul George’s Sixers debut season. ‘It’s super frustrating.’
The nine-time All-Star was brought to the Sixers to help Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey lead a title contending team. Instead, it's been a lot of missed games and shooting woes.
It was a hyperextended left knee, leading to a bone bruise on separate occasions.
It was groin soreness.
It was right ankle soreness.
And now it is a torn tendon in his left pinkie.
Paul George’s first season with the 76ers has been marred by injuries. He returned to play in Wednesday’s 108-101 loss to the Miami Heat after missing the previous five due to the pinkie injury to his non-shooting hand.
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“It felt great to play basketball again,” George said. “Be back on the floor with the guys. I played a little bit leading up to this, but nowhere close to getting a rhythm back so I don’t think I’m far off. It was just good to get back out there and try to trust the brace on the pinkie and go from there.”
While he had three steals and a block, scoring nine points on 3-for-11 shooting is far from the offensive performance the nine-time All-Star envisioned after signing a four-year, $211.5 million contract in July.
George had hoped to form a dominating Big Three along with Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. But injuries have seemingly cut short any type of momentum toward that goal.
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The 6-foot-8 George has missed 19 of the Sixers’ 50 games due to injuries and load management. And he’s averaging just 16.9 points, the fourth lowest average of his 15 NBA seasons.
“It’s super frustrating,” George said. “Super frustrating, especially, coming in with big goals and what I wanted to accomplish and what the team wants to accomplish, and then to always have these setbacks. It’s super frustrating, I for sure feel it.
“But you know all the bad luck, something has to change. That’s all I can kind of weigh on is, things will change. There are positives in all of it. I just got to weather the storm.”
On Wednesday, George missed all five of his two-point attempts, and a couple were missed layups. His frustration led to a technical foul after he argued a non-call on a point-blank attempt late in the second quarter.
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George had a tough time going left on his drives. Tough to get comfortable, George also kept messing with the brace on his finger.
“There’s little zingers here and there when the ball bounces and hits it,” he said, “but it’s just trying to get comfortable with that. It’s more of a feel thing and every moment, I was kinda thinking about it and some plays, I was getting it caught on jerseys. Just a couple things here and there, but I’ll get comfortable with it.”
For now, one of his biggest things he needs to work on is finding a comfort level while dribbling with his left hand.
While no surgery is needed, George must continue to wear the brace for at least another six weeks.
He initially thought his finger was “cramped” while suffering the injury against the Chicago Bulls on Jan. 25. But he was unable to move it and later learned the extent of the injury.
“The whole process now is to try and keep it as straight as possible,” he said. “Twenty-four/seven, this [brace] is on, trying to keep the pinkie straight. So it’s a part of me as of now so that’s kinda been the process leading up to now.”
But it was obvious by Wednesday’s performance that George is in desperate need of regaining his rhythm and perhaps confidence in his left hand.
It’s another one of this season’s injuries that George knows he must overcome.