
The Philadelphia 76ers swung for the fences when they signed star wing Paul George to a four-year, $212 million max contract in the 2024 offseason. George’s first season in Philadelphia did not live up to his or the organization’s expectations as he missed significant time due to multiple injuries.
On the most recent episode of his podcast, George detailed the myriad of injuries that he dealt with throughout the 2024-25 season.
“The most frustrating thing about last season was, obviously, I came in healthy. I didn’t have any hiccups,” George said. “I spent the whole offseason working on my body, getting healthy. Then I get to Philly. Preseason, I get hurt. And from that point on, I was like—you know, I didn’t give it full time to heal.”
George missed the opening five games of the regular season after suffering a bone bruise that resulted from a hyperextended knee injury in the preseason. The Sixers star admitted that he didn’t give the injury time to heal.
“But I had expectations. I didn’t want to leave them hanging. I wanted to go out there and play. But once I was out there, I was like, “Damn, something ain’t right.” I didn’t have my burst. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t pin what it was. Obviously, the hyperextension in my knee was still bothering me. I had the brace for a long time. From the brace, I started developing a quad tendon injury. Then that started to go flat on me. So I started taking medicine to numb it up. Then I had an injury I didn’t even know about. That’s when I found out I had a torn adductor.”
In March, the Sixers announced that George would miss the remainder of the season due to torn adductor and knee injuries. In 41 games, George put together averages of 16.2 points, 5.3 rebounds and 4.3 assists per contest, while he shot 35.8% from beyond the arc.
“That whole time, I just couldn’t move. And people were like — Philly fans can be rough on you. I was cool with it. Because at the end of the day, there’s an expectation, and I respect that,” George said. “I’m not one to shy away from it. I want that heat. I want that pressure. But it just sucked. I couldn’t give them everything I had, because my body wasn’t where it was supposed to be. And on top of that, I needed Big Fella.”
As if George’s injury issues weren’t bad enough, star big man Joel Embiid was limited to just 19 games due to a left knee injury. Embiid ended up undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his knee in April. Meanwhile, standout guard Tyrese Maxey also missed time with a finger injury and was shut down for the season in April.
As a result, the Sixers completely missed the playoffs for the first time since the 2016-17 campaign.
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