Don't look now, but the Philadelphia Sixers are starting to come together, and we're not just talking about their 3-0 start to the season. On Monday, NBA insider Jake Fischer said there is "positive momentum" for Paul George to make his season debut sometime in the next "week-plus." He should return in early November.
There wasn't a whole lot of optimism about George entering this season, after he played only 41 games in his first season in Philadelphia. What little optimism there was tanked after he underwent arthroscopic surgery on his knee in July following an injury that happened in a workout.
Now, a few games into the 2025-26 season, George is preparing to play again. It will take him a little time to get up to speed, but that's fine because, assuming he'll return very soon, there will still be time for him and the Sixers to figure things out together. What happened last season wasn't pretty, but George put that in the rearview and is ready to prove who he is.
Well, he doesn't necessarily need to prove who he is—he's Paul George —but instead prove that, at 35, he can still be a high-level player and impact winning.
Paul George expected to return to Sixers in early November
The Sixers signed him to a four-year max contract in 2024 that goes through the 2027-28 season (a $56.6 million player option), betting that he could be the player he was in his final season with the Clippers through age 37. Most people didn't think his first season would go as poorly as it did, even when he was able to play. George looked off.
If there ever was a time that Philadelphia needed George to return to form, it's now. The East is wide open, aside from the Cavaliers and Knicks, who are also dealing with their own injuries. Tyrese Maxey has started the season hot, VJ Edgecombe has lived up to the hype thus far (and then some), and even Quentin Grimes, who spent most of the offseason stuck as a restricted free agent, is off to a solid start.
Joel Embiid hasn't looked like Joel Embiid, but that was expected, considering the nagging knee issues he's dealt with the past couple of seasons. Having him on the floor is a win in itself for now, even though he's on a minutes restriction.
Thinking about who the Sixers can be with a productive Paul George might turn out to be nothing more than wishful thinking, but it sure is a lot of fun.