Paul George is entering his 17th NBA season and been the subject of increased scrutiny as his career has progressed. He’s also been part of two of the league’s more controversial trades in the past decade.
So he fully understands his stint in Boston will come with expectations and also skepticism. There are several questions hovering over his acquisition and many have nothing to do with Jaylen Brown, for whom he was traded by the 76ers.
If the 2019 version of George was here in Boston, there would be a high level of excitement. He was once one of the league’s best players, earning first-team All-NBA in that 2018-19 season, his final year with Oklahoma City.
But years with the underachieving Clippers followed by an injury-prone, two-year stint in Philadelphia, marred by a 25-game drug policy suspension, hindered George’s reputation and created doubts about whether his best basketball was behind him.
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An encouraging sign for the Celtics was their painful 4-3 loss to the 76ers in a first-round series they led, 3-1. It was when a well-rested and healthy George burned the Celtics with stellar defense and 55 percent shooting from the 3-point arc. He made 22 of 40 shots from 3-point range and it was honestly difficult to remember George missing 18.
Paul George's performance helped the 76ers' rebound from a 3-1 series deficit to a 4-3 series victory over the Celtics in last season's first-round playoff matchup. It raised some eyebrows in the Celtics' front office about the possibility of dealing Jaylen Brown (right) to the 76ers for George.
Paul George's performance helped the 76ers' rebound from a 3-1 series deficit to a 4-3 series victory over the Celtics in last season's first-round playoff matchup. It raised some eyebrows in the Celtics' front office about the possibility of dealing Jaylen Brown (right) to the 76ers for George. Robert F. Bukaty/Globe Staff
On Tuesday, George addressed the local media officially for the first time, showing reverence to the departed Brown but also making an important declaration about his health. It’s been 10 weeks since the trade and there had been no reassurance besides a couple of posted practice videos that George was mentally and physically healthy.
George went through a lot in Philadelphia, where he was expected to be the No. 3 option behind Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. It never worked out that way. George’s knees wouldn’t allow it and he played in 78 games over two years before the playoff series against the Celtics.
George got an opportunity in that series to display the type of player he still is — when healthy.
“The past couple years have been rough from a physical standpoint, and obviously that weighs on you mentally when you feel or you want to do things that you know your body has a limitation to,” he said. “I feel great. I feel really good, physically. I’ve worked hard this summer. My body has naturally just healed.
“Just the time that I took off, leading up to coming back [for the playoffs], my body was in such a different place. And then going into the summer really was a chance to continue to work and strengthen my body, strengthen my knee.
“So it’s almost like a kind of rebirth or reborn again to be in a system, be in a winning culture, a winning environment, and to feel good, be able to work. A lot went into coming into Boston with a different mind-set, different mentality, and it’s again all of this just comes naturally. You come into this building and it just hits you like you’re here to work, you’re here to get better, and I’m kind of carrying that.
George said all the right things in the 30-minute session. He expressed a, at least temporary, peace of mind about his health, his desire to make this stop the right one.
“I’m coming in with that attitude, that mentality of being the best version for myself. And again, I’m ready. Feel this is the timing for me, and I’m all in.”
George is one of the league’s most accomplished players without an NBA Finals appearance. He was once one of the league’s rising stars before suffering a severe open compound fracture of his right tibia and fibula during a USA Basketball intrasquad showcase scrimmage in Las Vegas on Aug. 1, 2014.
It altered his game, turning George from an athlete to a technician. He’s managed to make seven All-Star Games since that injury but his stature declined during his Clippers years (from 2019-20 to 2023-24), when his expensive pairing with Kawhi Leonard failed miserably.
He took the 76ers’ money (four years, $211.5 million), hoping a change of conference and environment would resurrect his career, but it didn’t. George’s body began to fail him, the 76ers greatly underachieved, and his salary was considered exorbitantly bloated.
But it was that salary ($52.8 million average) that allowed the Celtics to facilitate the trade and move on from Brown. George’s playoff performance also convinced the Celtics’ brass George still had an impressive skill set. George’s pledge to blend into the Celtics culture, serve as a compliment to Jayson Tatum and emerge as a primary 3-point threat encouraged president of basketball operations Brad Stevens to praise this team two weeks before training camp.
Of course, George will have to back up those words on the floor. But for now, he offered a salve for those concerns about whether the Celtics acquired an over-the-hill, overpaid player with little value left. George said he has plenty left and it will be up to coach Joe Mazzulla to put him in the position to succeed.
But George promises to be his best self, and that should be better than the George of the past few years.
“I see that with JT being able to play off him, being able to help him, being able to kind of still be a mentor,” he said. “I can play off another superstar wing and still bring a presence and still be on the side of doing everything to win.
“You play the game as hard as you can and injuries happen. Just hope that’s behind me. Again, I feel great. I feel amazing, and that’s all I can bank on. I haven’t felt like this in a very long time coming into a season, and that alone is a win for me.
“It’s about building and having an expectation to be ready to go when the season starts.”
Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla (far left) and president of basketball operations Brad Stevens (far right) pose with the team's newest veteran additions in Paul George (No. 13) and Mike Conley Jr. (No. 45) Tuesday.
Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla (far left) and president of basketball operations Brad Stevens (far right) pose with the team's newest veteran additions in Paul George (No. 13) and Mike Conley Jr. (No. 45) Tuesday. Jessica Rinaldi/Globe Staff