The NBA has announced that Philadelphia 76ers forward Paul George has been suspended 25 games without pay for violating the league’s anti-drug policy.
George’s suspension will begin immediately, with Saturday’s contest vs. the New Orleans Pelicans being the first game he will miss. He will be eligible to return to action on March 25th vs. the Chicago Bulls, which will leave 10 regular season games on the schedule for Philadelphia.
As a result of forfeiting his game pay, the suspension will ultimately cost George about $469K per game missed, or $11.7M in total.
In a prepared statement, the 35 year old said “Over the past few years, I’ve discussed the importance of mental health, and in the course of recently seeking treatment for an issue of my own, I made the mistake of taking an improper medication. I take full responsibility for my actions and apologize to the Sixers organization, my teammates and the Philly fans for my poor decision making during this process.”
“I am focused on using this time to make sure that my mind and body are in the best condition to help the team when I return.”
Currently averaging 16pts, 5.1 rebounds, 3.7ast per game, George’s suspension will continue to prevent Philadelphia from seeing how competitive they can be when they have their “Big 3” of George, Joel Embiid, and Tyrese Maxey together. In total, the trio has only played 365 minutes together this season, making it hard to build chemistry, and hard to predict how strong this Sixers squad could potentially be.
Currently sitting at 26-21 on the season, Philadelphia occupies the 6th spot in the Eastern Conference. Following their contest against the Pelicans Saturday, the team will being a 5 game road trip where they’ll face the Clippers, Warriors, Lakers, Suns and Trail Blazers.
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