{"id":87075,"date":"2024-07-23T17:24:45","date_gmt":"2024-07-23T21:24:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=87075"},"modified":"2024-07-23T17:25:05","modified_gmt":"2024-07-23T21:25:05","slug":"former-los-angeles-clippers-star-gets-brutally-honest-about-team-paul-george","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/23\/former-los-angeles-clippers-star-gets-brutally-honest-about-team-paul-george\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Clippers Star Gets Brutally Honest About Team"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On the most recent episode of his podcast, new <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/06\/how-daryl-morey-gave-the-76ers-a-great-offseason\/\" target=\"_self\">Philadelphia 76ers<\/a> star <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/georgpa01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-23_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Paul George<\/a> spoke about his five-year stint with the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/20\/los-angeles-clippers-pretenders-or-contenders-in-2024-25-one-nba-owner-believes-the-latter\/\" target=\"_self\">Los Angeles Clippers<\/a>. George said that playing for the Clippers instead of the Los Angeles Lakers felt like playing for &#8220;the B Team.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Paul George:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think initially, coming back to LA that was home. But it\u2019s not the same love. Because when I was in LA, they said, \u2018you should\u2019ve been a Laker.\u2019 That\u2019s all I was hearing\u2026 I\u2019m on the B Team. That\u2019s how the vibe and the love felt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/IGmkN1jAiq\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/IGmkN1jAiq<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TomerAzarly\/status\/1815803776680464701?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 23, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>George, a California native, originally joined the Clippers in the 2019 NBA offseason. With the Clippers, George was a three-time All-Star and a one-time All-NBA Third Team selection. During this stint, he averaged 23.2 points, 6 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 1.5 steals per game. He also shot 45.5% from the field and 39.7% from beyond the arc with the Clippers.<\/p>\n<h2>Former Clippers Star Gets Brutally Honest About Team<\/h2>\n<h3>Paul George is Excited to Play for the Philadelphia 76ers<\/h3>\n<p>With George joining the 76ers, the team is now considered a serious title contender. Last season, the 76ers ended with a 47-35 record and earned the No. 7 seed in the Eastern Conference. This includes star <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/e\/embiijo01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-23_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joel Embiid<\/a> appearing in just 39 regular season games. Now, the team looks significantly different than the one that lost to the New York Knicks in the first round of the playoffs.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to George, the 76ers signed veterans like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/g\/gordoer01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-23_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Eric Gordon<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/drumman01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-23_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Andre Drummond<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/martica02.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-23_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Caleb Martin<\/a>. The team also re-signed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/o\/oubreke01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-23_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kelly Oubre<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/l\/lowryky01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-23_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kyle Lowry<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/maxeyty01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-23_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tyrese Maxey<\/a>. Additionally, the 76ers drafted guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mccaija01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-23_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jared McCain<\/a> with the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/04\/27\/jared-mccain-2024-nba-draft-profile\/\" target=\"_self\">No. 16 pick in the NBA Draft<\/a>. Philadelphia lost players like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/harrito02.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-23_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tobias Harris<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hieldbu01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-23_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Buddy Hield<\/a>, but they look like an improved team on paper.<\/p>\n<p>Recently, George spoke about the 76ers and said he thinks the team has &#8220;a real legitimate shot&#8221; at winning a championship.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Paul George: &#8220;I think we have a real, legitimate shot.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Says he&#8217;s admired Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey from afar and that Embiid was secretly one of his long-time All-Star friends.<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Austin Krell (@NBAKrell) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NBAKrell\/status\/1815797287353790524?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 23, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, George said he felt that teaming up with Embiid and Maxey was &#8220;inevitable.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Paul George:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve always been a fan of Tyrese Maxey\u2026 and Joel has secretly been one of my closest All-Star game friends. It kinda felt inevitable that we would link up and be teammates.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>(via <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/sixers?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@sixers<\/a>, h\/t <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/theScore?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@theScore<\/a>) <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/TKtwBMnchq\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/TKtwBMnchq<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LegionHoops\/status\/1815857791552348169?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 23, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/11\/philadelphia-76ers-are-bringing-back-multi-time-nba-all-star-kyle-lowry\/\" target=\"_self\">Lowry<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/06\/report-philadelphia-76ers-adding-elite-sharpshooter-to-roster-caleb-martin\/\" target=\"_self\">Martin<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/23\/report-nba-champion-guard-joining-the-philadelphia-76ers-reggie-jackson\/\" target=\"_self\">newly-acquired<\/a> guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/jacksre01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-07-23_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Reggie Jackson<\/a> are the only three players with NBA Finals experience on the team. However, it is clear the 76ers are a threat to come out of the Eastern Conference and win their first championship since 1983.<\/p>\n<h3>The Last Word on Paul George<\/h3>\n<p>Despite playing some of the best basketball of his career with the Clippers, it is fair to say the team underachieved during his run there. Every year, the Clippers were considered title contenders. However, they never made it to the NBA Finals and advanced to the Conference Finals just once (2021). With George going to Philadelphia, it will be interesting to see how the outlook changes for both teams involved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On the most recent episode of his podcast, new Philadelphia 76ers star Paul George spoke about his five-year stint with the Los Angeles Clippers. George said that playing for the Clippers instead of the Los Angeles Lakers felt like playing for &#8220;the B Team.&#8221; Paul George: \u201cI think initially, coming back to LA that was [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4631,"featured_media":84067,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,2,27,62,3,13],"tags":[341,256,1890,446,49067,267,2624,319,50,343,2478],"class_list":["post-87075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-featured","category-clippers","category-nba","category-news","category-76ers","tag-andre-drummond","tag-buddy-hield","tag-caleb-martin","tag-eric-gordon","tag-jared-mccain","tag-joel-embiid","tag-kelly-oubre","tag-kyle-lowry","tag-paul-george","tag-tobias-harris","tag-tyrese-maxey"],"modified_by":"Elie Deglaoui","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4631"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}