George, who was joined by Wizards teammates Bub Carrington, Tre Johnson and Alex Sarr at Rising Stars, was part of Team Vince, which won the event with a 25-24 win over Team Melo.
George totaled four assists, three rebounds and two points in the first-to-25 championship game of the four-team mini-tournament that took place on the Friday of All-Star Weekend.
And for him, making the most of his opportunity to play on that stage was a given.
“I mean, at the end of the day, you’re playing a basketball game. You have new teammates for one night and you just have to go out there and I think you have to compete,” George said. “I think you have to treat it with respect, and I think that’s what we went out there and did. So, to be able to actually come out with a win, it just makes everything so much better.”
While George is currently nursing an elbow injury that is expected to sideline him for a bit – and force him to miss Tuesday night’s game against the Heat here in Miami – his productivity has, as expected, been higher for the Wizards during his second NBA season.
The forward – a first-round pick of the Wizards in the 2024 NBA Draft – is averaging 14.8 points, 5.1 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game, an improvement from a year ago when he averaged 8.7 points, 4.2 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game.
He’s grown more comfortable and confident in his game, and he says that’s made all the difference when he’s been on the floor this season.
“Definitely a lot,” George responded, when asked how much he’s improved since his playing days at Miami. “Especially in the physicality of the NBA game, just getting in the paint and making a decision for myself to either get a shot up or pass it over to a teammate and put him in a situation where he could do something with the ball. Definitely that. The shooting has always been there. It’s always going to be there. … But defensively, just being able to guard some of the best players early in my career and in my rookie year, just the more reps you get against good players, the more your game is going to evolve. So, just in general, I think the physicality, the experience, the defense, everything has just taken a step.”
That doesn’t mean George is done learning – not by any stretch.
During All-Star Weekend, he had the opportunity to connect with some of the biggest names in basketball, including at a pre-Rising Stars workshop where he had the chance to listen to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar discuss his career, the NBA and more.