At this point, it will take a ton for the Philadelphia 76ers to convince anyone (and themselves) that they actually made the right choice when it came to signing Paul George to the kind of deal they extended to him last year. For now, that is a blatant non-truth — the likes of which will most likely not get overturned anymore taking everything into consideration.
Since coming to Philly, George has been nothing but a disappointment. Last season, the nine-time All-Star turned arguably his worst season yet not counting his rookie campaign in Indiana. He sputtered out of the gates, and with only one functional knee, he turned in a slew of career-low numbers, especially when it came to his usually sterling shooting splits.
The situation with the All-Star is not looking any better heading into the next season, either. George had already suffered a new injury for which he underwent surgery for this summer, and by most measures, he will probably miss a considerable chunk of the season, especially in the early going. There goes his bid to prove that last year was an aberration.
Philly should be desperate to move on from George, who is quickly proving to be a huge failed experiment. But doing that would be incredibly difficult for the franchise, especially with teams starting to get in touch with the reality that he is now a shell of his former self.
And it gets even worse.
76ers horror deepens as they get a brutal reality slap about Paul George
The NBA community was shaken a tad when All-Star guard John Wall announced his retirement as a professional basketball player. While completely unrelated to the 76ers, it resonates with George, as Wall hanging his sneakers up means that the nine-time All-Star is now the only player left from the 2010 NBA Draft class who is still playing in the league.
This mind-blowing fact only makes the 76ers look even more arbitrary for even going after George the way they did. The front office overlooked the fact that he is not getting any younger, but their itch for a big name prevailed, hence this mess.
Teams are probably never going to trade for an aging All-Star who is still being paid like a franchise player. The 76ers will have to ride it out with George whether they like it or not, and they will only have themselves to blame. That’s for sure.
Now, there’s some revisionist part in that mini-soliloquy as George was still an All-Star caliber player before he signed with Philly. However, the signs were there, and the trend in the league should have been a wake-up call for the 76ers to invest in depth instead of star power at the expense of more holistic roster-building.