When Paul George reminded Joe Mazzulla of the catch-and-shoot master class he put on for the 76ers in the first round against the Celtics, which led to Boston’s first playoff collapse after holding a 3-1 series lead, it was a playful pick at a wound still healing, but also a show of self-awareness.
A left knee injury kept George out of 20 regular-season games in 2025-26, and a suspension cost him 25 more. But in the playoffs he torched the Celtics, averaging 17.4 points over the seven-game series while shooting 48.9 percent from the floor and 55 percent from 3-point range.
George didn’t turn 36 until the day of Game 7, but at that age, those kinds of performances aren’t typically expected; they’re summoned.
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“The limitations physically, and then to be healthy again, it just felt like I was able to do things, and quite frankly it might’ve caught Boston off guard from an expectation that I could no longer move,” George said at his introductory news conference Tuesday. “But I was feeling good. I felt that I was able to do all the things out there to gain an advantage or be a weapon.”
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The Celtics were willing to part ways with Jaylen Brown in July, with the belief that George could still be a weapon for them this season.
But at 36, George faces a bigger question: Can he stay on the floor?
pg_seasons
pg_seasonsJulian Benbow
While George was a workhorse over the first nine seasons of his career — even with the gruesome right leg injury that cost him the bulk of 2014-15 — he’s felt the inevitability of age and time since he turned 29 ahead of the 2019-20 season.
He’s missed nearly 40 percent of his teams’ games over that span.
If George remains healthy, this will be the first time he’s been available for a season opener since 2023-24.
Last season, he missed the first 12 games while recovering from offseason left knee surgery.
In 2024-25, a left knee bruise kept him sidelined for the first five games of the season. Between that and ankle, groin, and finger injuries, he missed 40 games because of injuries that season.
“Past couple years have been rough from a physical standpoint, and obviously that weighs on you mentally when you want to do things that you know your body has a limitation to,” George said. “I feel great. I feel really good physically. I’ve worked hard this summer. My body has naturally healed.”
As George enters his 17th season, his career has stretched to a point that fewer than five percent of NBA players reach (only 238 of 5,102 have played at 36).
He’s the last active NBA player from the 2010 draft class. Gordon Hayward played his final NBA game at 34, John Wall and Hassan Whiteside at 32, and DeMarcus Cousins at 31.
While injuries have plagued the back half of George’s career, he has played in an era of cautiously managed workloads and decreased physicality in favor of free movement, and he is now among a group of players in their mid-to-late 30s who’ve been able to extend their careers and maintain above-average production.
While only eight players in league history have averaged 20-plus points per game in their age-36 season, five have done it within the past six seasons.
Age-36 seasons
Age-36 seasonsJulian Benbow
In 2020-21, LeBron James averaged 25 points per game for the Lakers.
In 2024-25, Stephen Curry averaged 24.5 for the Warriors, and Kevin Durant 26.6 for the Suns.
Last season, Jimmy Butler averaged 20 points per game for the Warriors, albeit in an injury-shortened season, and James Harden averaged 23.6 points for the Clippers and Cavaliers.
The other three — Karl Malone, Kobe Bryant, and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar — are Hall of Famers.
While George averaged at least 20 points for nine straight seasons from 2015-16 to 2023-24, he averaged 17.3 points over 37 games last season. The season before that, he averaged 16.2 points in 41 games.
Expecting a late-career scoring spike might be asking a lot. But if George can match last year’s 17.3 this season in Boston, it would give him the 15th-highest scoring average for an age-36 season in NBA history.
And if anyone’s aware of his expectations — high or low — George is.
“It’s almost like a rebirth to be in a system, be in a winning culture, a winning environment, and to feel good,” George said.