Paul George

Paul George (born May 2, 1990, Palmdale, California, U.S.) is an American basketball player known for his graceful athleticism and versatility as a top scorer and premier defender for several teams in the NBA. A 6-foot 8-inch (2.03-meter) forward, George has thrived as a multidimensional player who can shoot from a distance, drive to the basket, and guard opposing players at a high level. He currently plays for the Philadelphia 76ers.

Early years

George grew up in the small suburban city of Palmdale, California, about an hour’s drive from Los Angeles, with his parents, Paul and Pauletta George, and two elder sisters, Portala and Teiosha George. His father worked as a carpenter and for a manufacturing company, and his mother was a homemaker. The younger Paul George was a huge fan of the Los Angeles Lakers, especially of their superstar Kobe Bryant, but he also pulled for the less-heralded Los Angeles Clippers. His mother had a debilitating stroke when he was 10 years old, and he sought consolation by playing basketball more and more, often with Teiosha, who went on to star on Pepperdine University’s women’s team.

Paul George was a promising but at first reserved basketball player on his high-school team. His former coach told Andscape in 2018 that George had been a “late bloomer” who needed encouragement to be aggressive and shoot and drive to the basket more often. In his senior year, George embraced being the team’s best player and led it to the state finals, but he was not heavily recruited by colleges. He wound up playing for California State University, Fresno, where he averaged 15.5 points per game over two seasons before turning pro.

Quick ascent to NBA stardom

In 2010 the Indiana Pacers selected George with the 10th overall pick in the NBA draft. He appeared in 61 games in his rookie season, mostly coming off the bench, and averaged 7.8 points per game. He showed steady improvement before having a breakout third season (2012–13). During that campaign, George averaged 17.4 points, 4.1 assists, and 1.8 steals per game, and he was named Most Improved Player and earned All-Star and third-team All-NBA honors. George’s profile rose further when the Pacers exceeded expectations in the playoffs, making it all the way to the Eastern Conference finals. There the 23-year-old George and the Pacers lost a hard-fought seven-game series to a heavily favored Miami Heat team starring LeBron James and Dwyane Wade.

In the 2013–14 season George improved his scoring average to 21.7 points per game, came in ninth place in voting for Most Valuable Player, and was selected for the first All-Defensive team. In the playoffs the Pacers returned to the Eastern Conference finals in a rematch with the Heat. George had another strong series and was praised as being a worthy opponent to James, who was about the same height and played the same position as George. However, the Pacers lost the series, 2–4.

A devastating injury

Several months later, in late July 2014, George joined the U.S. men’s national team in Las Vegas in preparation for the 2014 FIBA World Cup. During an exhibition game on August 1, he suffered an open fracture of the tibia and fibula bones in his lower right leg when he landed awkwardly against the basket stanchion. He missed all but six games of the 2014–15 NBA season. George had a successful comeback in 2015–16, posting the highest scoring average of his career up to that time (23.1 points per game). The Pacers lost in the first round of the subsequent playoffs, and later that summer George rejoined the national team and helped it win a gold medal at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games.

George had a productive regular season for the Pacers in 2016–17, but the team had another disappointing first-round exit in the playoffs. In June 2017 George’s agent told Indiana that George planned to leave after the following season as a free agent and that his preferred target was the Lakers. The Pacers traded George several weeks later to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis.

Trades to Oklahoma City and Los Angeles

Although the Thunder was not his first-choice team, George ended up loving playing in Oklahoma City with fellow All-Star Russell Westbrook, and he surprised observers by signing a four-year $137 million contract after his first season there (2017–18). George then had perhaps his best-ever season, averaging a career-high 28 points per game, leading the NBA in steals (2.2 per game), and finishing third in both Most Valuable Player and Defensive Player of the Year voting. The team underperformed in the postseason, losing in the first round to the Damian Lillard-led Portland Trail Blazers. In another surprise, George requested a trade in the offseason to the Los Angeles Clippers after Kawhi Leonard, another southern California native, persuaded George to join him there. The Thunder obliged the request and in July 2019 sent George to the Clippers in exchange for a sizable package that included numerous first-round picks and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who in a few years would become a superstar for the Thunder.

The George-Leonard pairing was expected to make the Clippers a perennial NBA title contender, but it turned out to be a frustrating period for both players and the team. Los Angeles made the playoffs after the COVID-19-shortened 2019–20 season, but in the second round the team blew a 3–1 series lead to the Denver Nuggets. George scored only 10 points in the deciding seventh game, and, despite his early successes with Indiana, he was increasingly being criticized as a great player who failed to perform his best in the playoffs. He quieted those critics somewhat in the next year’s playoffs, when he led the team to a berth in the Western Conference finals for the first time in franchise history after Leonard was ruled out with a knee injury partway through the second round. In those finals George averaged 28.7 points per game, but the Clippers fell to the Phoenix Suns in six games.

In 2021–22 Leonard missed the whole season, and George played only 31 games (out of a possible 82) as a result of a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right elbow. The next season George was playing well, but in March 2023 he sprained his right knee. He missed the rest of the regular season and all of the Clippers’ first-round playoff series, which the team lost. George managed to remain healthy for the 2023–24 season, in which he played 74 games, averaging 22.6 points per game, and earned All-Star honors for the ninth time in his career. The Clippers seemed poised to finally reach their full potential, but another injury sidelined Leonard, and the team lost in the first round of the postseason.

Leaving California

George became a free agent in the offseason and signed a four-year $212 million contract with the 76ers in July 2024. There he joined dominant center Joel Embiid and rising point guard Tyrese Maxey.

Personal life and podcast

George married Daniela Rajic, an entrepreneur and a former model, in 2022. The couple have three children together.

In 2023 George began cohosting a podcast, Podcast P with Paul George, which often features interviews with current and former NBA players.