Paul George’s first day in Boston came with the kind of honesty the 76ers probably won’t argue with.
At Celtics media day, George looked back on his path and made it clear he wishes he had landed in Boston earlier. He said the move has brought him “nothing but happiness,” and he also stressed that he wasn’t taking shots at any of his previous stops, including the 76ers and the Los Angeles Clippers.
Still, the message was hard to miss: this feels like a better fit for him.
That sentiment lines up pretty neatly with how things went in Philadelphia. The Sixers built the move around a Joel Embiid-Tyrese Maxey core and hoped George would be the finishing piece. Instead, the partnership never really got off the ground the way anyone expected.
George arrived in Philly on the four-year, $211 million deal he signed in 2024, and the production never matched the price tag. After back-to-back All-Star seasons before joining the Sixers, he averaged 16.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 4.3 assists per game in 2024-2025. He was a little better as a scorer in his second season at 17.3 points per game, but his assists dropped to 3.6, and availability remained a major issue.
Across his two seasons with Philadelphia, George played 41 games in the first year and 37 in the second. The setbacks piled up, including multiple injuries and, later, a suspension for PED use. In all, the Sixers paid him $100,871,890 for limited availability and production that fell well short of the level he had shown earlier in his career with the Indiana Pacers.
He did have a strong first-round series against the Celtics in the 2026 NBA Playoffs, but that was the exception rather than the rule. The broader story in Philadelphia was a fit that looked clean on paper and never turned into the kind of impact the Sixers were counting on.
George didn’t force his way out of Philadelphia, but his comments made it plain that he’s happy with the change. And given how the relationship played out, the Sixers may not feel much different.
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