With the 2024-25 Sixers season officially in the rearview mirror, the time has come to evaluate the few highs and many lows of a disastrous campaign in which the team only managed 24 wins. We will do so in "Sixers year-in-review," a series assessing each individual Sixers player's performance this year based on numbers, film and quotes, while also looking ahead to the future.
Up next is Paul George, the nine-time All-Star whose first season with the Sixers after inking a $211 million contract was a massive disappointment.
George only played in 41 games due to a long list of injuries, and when he was healthy, he never played like a star.
Are there still better days ahead, or is this a sign of further decline to come?
SIXERS YEAR-IN-REVIEW
Joel Embiid | Guerschon Yabusele | Paul George
What we learned in 2024-25
George cannot be relied on to keep the ship afloat without Joel Embiid.
The rationale behind the Sixers pursuing George to be their third star was, at the very least, understandable: he has a decade-plus-long track record — perhaps as substantial as any player in the NBA — of being a malleable star, capable of fitting around other high-profile players and impacting winning while also staying ready to slide into a featured role whenever needed and handling it with ease.
Then he got to Philadelphia, and that turned out not to be the case whatsoever. Not only was George's fit alongside Embiid and Tyrese Maxey not as seamless as anticipated, but he completely cratered when tasked with carrying the load for the Sixers. He displayed next to no scoring upside, only reaching 30 points on three occasions.
The biggest reason for George's significant scoring decline, as far as we can tell: a noteworthy drop in off-the-dribble explosiveness. George has always relied on a healthy blend of driving and pull-up shot-making, but the threat of each is necessary: defenders must fear that George will drive by them so he can suddenly rise up for a jumper, and they must believe he is ready to settle into a shot so he can create a downhill advantage. If either of those threats are no longer credible, defenses can load up against the stronger skill.
That is exactly what happened, as George's inability to explode en route to the rim led to him taking even more difficult jumpers than he is used to. George is one of the more talented shooters of his time, so he has enough skill and ability there to get by. But his collection of shot attempts is growing more and more challenging, and if the trend continues, he will have zero equity as a go-to scorer for any stretches of games, purely valuable as an off-ball player. This would not make him bad, but it would make it nearly impossible for him to even come close to living up to his contract.
MORE: Deep dive into George's shot profile
Number to know
George's free throw attempts per game in 2024-25: 2.4 (lowest in full season since 2010-11).
Even if George was never putting up Embiid-esque free throw volume numbers during his career, he was a safe bet to get to the line at a high rate and knock down free throws at an excellent clip. That has been an enormous boost to his efficiency over the years, helping mask his somewhat inefficient shot selection. But as George's ability to get to the rim has declined in each of the last few seasons, so has his free throw volume, and it dropped to an absolutely stunning low in his first season in Philadelphia.
George has made more than 85 percent of his free throws across his 15 NBA seasons, which makes him drawing a foul such a prosperous occasion for his team. But he is just not doing it anymore, even when Embiid missed most of the season and the Sixers were desperate for George to take control and put the team on his back, even for minutes at a time.
Important film
More of the same, because this is far and away the most significant storyline within George's season. Watch how often his drives are cut off by defenders of all sorts and sizes:
Paul George's scoring upside in his first season with the Sixers was capped significantly by a lack of off-the-dribble burst. In 41 games in 2024-25, George scored over 30 points only three times, never scoring more than 33 points in a game. pic.twitter.com/iWbt5Wmj98
— Adam Aaronson's clips (@SixersAdamClips) March 18, 2025
Are you sensing a pattern? George just did not look like the player people have known him as for years. He has never been a perfect player and has often been one to take a ton of criticism, but George being unable to consistently generate good looks for himself has not been the case at any point prior to 2024-25.
MORE: George's full exit interview
Salient soundbite
George, in his exit interview, on the difficulties — personal and professional — in his first season with the Sixers:
"A ton of stuff going on. It was a tough — it was a lot for me. I think from a mental standpoint. A lot of stuff that was just going on that I kind of was trying to balance while being in a new situation. There was internal stuff for me, there was personal stuff for me, there were the fires that were going on out west where my home is, new situation, there was frustration from injuries and then holding myself accountable for not playing to the expectation that I had coming into the season. So there was just a ton of stuff that was weighing on me that, going into next year I'll kind of be free from a lot of those and alleviated from a lot of those. And so I do expect a better season, I expect a better turnaround for myself, for this team… The expectations that I just set for myself and playing for a passionate team, a passionate fan base, I think this is a place that you win and you want to win and they expect you to win, so the real challenge was just, with everything going on, was trying to remain in that moment of going on the court and leaving everything outside, outside and kind of just focusing on what I had to focus on. But I think that was probably just the biggest challenge for me was trying to just stay locked in with what was going on."
Question heading into the future
How much of an issue was George's left knee during this season?
If George's difficulties creating advantages off the dribble merely stem from the wear and tear of a decade and a half in the NBA and the natural aging process, there is little hope for any sort of star outcomes for George over the remainder of his career. Is there any other explanation?
If one is looking for an alternative theory, the most plausible concept would be that the ongoing troubles with his left knee have been worse than the team has let on. George suffered a bone bruise to that knee in the preseason, missed the first bunch of games in the regular season and played in a handful of contests before suffering another bone bruise in the same knee. George was initially on a minutes restriction upon returning, but it was eventually lifted. As George tried to play through a bizarre finger injury, which limited his dexterity, and began missing time with a groin issue, too, the knee was no longer a focus.
But, interestingly enough, when George was finally shut down for the season, it was reportedly to tend to both his groin and his knee. George acknowledged as much in his exit interview on Sunday. Could it be that his knee was a far more significant hindrance during the season than the Sixers ever acknowledged, and that is why he struggled so much as an on-ball creator?
It would be wise, until definitively proven otherwise, to operate under the assumption that the simplest explanation is the correct one here: George hit a significant moment in his natural athletic decline as a soon-to-be 35-year-old with a long list of prior injuries.
Contract information
George, who will turn 35 years old next month, has three years left on the massive four-year deal he signed with the Sixers last summer:
• 2025-26: $51.6 million
• 2026-27: $54.1 million
• 2027-28: $56.5 million (player option)
MORE: Could the Sixers use first-round pick to dump George's contract?
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