PHILADELPHIA – It was probably not the season debut that Paul George would have drawn up on paper, but for the nine-time All Star, getting back into NBA action for the first time in over eight months was enough to create some relief.
Getting a win against his former team is a nice bonus.
The Sixers defeated the Los Angeles Clippers on their home floor on Monday night, erasing another double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter to come back and win. They did it despite a middling performance from George, who scored the first five points of the game and then struggled to find any sort of scoring groove.
George totaled nine points, seven rebounds and three assists in 21 minutes, shooting 2-for-9 from the field and 1-for-4 from beyond the arc while on a pretty tight minutes restriction. "Not bad," Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said after the game, but everybody knows George has much more to give.
In the latest edition of Sixers soundbites, hear from George at his locker after his first appearance of the 2025-26 season:
• George on how it felt to finally get back on the floor:
"It felt great. It felt great to finally play basketball again. It's been, like, eight months since I've played. So it was a long journey, a lot of ups and downs, a lot of hiccups, but it felt good to finally get out there and I felt good. Just rusty, but I felt good."
• George on the difficulty of playing shorter stints:
"It's the balance of letting the game come to you and then trying to – I've got to push it a little bit from a cardio and conditioning standpoint, but then before you know it five minutes is up and you're getting subbed out. I've always let the game come to me. I thought today I was a little rushed trying to make the most of that five minutes every quarter. A lot of possessions were kind of uncomfortable... I've got to kind of do that a little bit, just to get the cardio and conditioning back."
• George on what he knows about the plan to handle his minutes moving forward:
"I'm sure it's just as my body tolerates it... This is the most I've done up until this point, so we'll see how I feel tomorrow and just gradually build on it."
MORE: Sixers-Clippers recap
• George on how it felt to see his first shot go down:
"It felt great. It felt great. Man, I watched it and there were so many emotions inside, there was zero emotion outside. I was just trying to focus on the game, staying locked in and engaged. But it felt great to make the first shot, and just do it for this city."
• George on how he felt moving his feet defensively:
"It was definitely a trust factor when I first went out there to see what all I can do. And right away, it was like, 'Alright, I'm ready for this, I can react, I can move, I can play physical, I can beat a guy to a spot, I can rebound.' So that was, I think, a huge [item on the] checklist for me personally, that I was able to slide my feet, stay in front of guys, and just fly around, be reactive."
• George on how he believes he can help this Sixers team the most:
"Just try to take pressure off Tyrese [Maxey]. As I get comfortable settling in, being someone that can create shots... Whether I make a play for someone, or I can break someone down to get a shot off, just trying to take pressure off him. He's doing a lot. But we've got a lot of guys... That's really why our team is special and so versatile, so just trying to fit into what the guys are doing now."
• George on his takeaways from playing with VJ Edgecombe for the first time:
"Good. Great. He can hoop. He always seems to make a timely, timely basket in the fourth quarter. It's been like that every game... He's got a tremendous confidence and clutch factor to him. He reminds me of me in letting the game come to you and picking and choosing when to attack and be aggressive. And you don't see that a lot for guys, to be comfortable that soon and know when to assert themselves that early into their careers. A lot of guys are chaotic and all over the place, but he just has a veteran kind of poise and clock when to be assertive. It's special."
• George on what the last month has been like as he was unable to play:
"It was challenging. It was challenging. I want to be out there with the guys, I watched days go by, games go by, where I couldn't compete. It's tough to want to compete and play and be a part of something that we're trying to do, it's hard to just watch. It was challenging, because there were ups and downs. There were days where I couldn't participate, but there were huge breakthroughs where my body started to get stronger. And once that happened, it was enough to kind of piggyback off that. And here I am."
• George on what the most significant breakthrough was for him in his recovery:
"I think the quad was just weak from being shut down for so long. That was the challenge, trying to get the quad strong, equal to the right, and the breakthrough came a couple days ago, where the numbers were equal. That was kind of the stamp, to go along with how I felt on the court, to be clinically cleared to go out and play."
MORE: Edgecombe changes speeds, Andre Drummond changes minds and more
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