Sixers' Paul George discusses summer plans as he heads into offseason

PHILADELPHIA -- It was an interesting 2025-26 season for Philadelphia 76ers star Paul George. The 9-time All-Star missed the first 12 games of the season as he continued his recovery from an arthroscopic procedure on his left knee over the summer and it took him a bit to find a rhythm.

George was then suspended for 25 games due to violating the league's anti-drug policy at the end of January and did not return until the final 10 games of the season. He looked good in those 10 games as he was moving better and was able to score off the dribble, but there were some inconsistencies. Especially, in Round 2 against the New York Knicks when he would start games well, but then would tail off so there is still work to be done for him as he heads into the summer.

"I mean, for me, I think it's just figuring out if I can get that explosiveness back," George said. "I thought it limited me a lot this year, with the ability to be explosive going towards the basket, which I've been my entire career being able to not have to heavily rely on my jump shot, but the jump shot kind of being the jab to set up the drive to the rim. I just felt like that wasn't there this year. So I think, you know, just trying to find and see if there is that explosion back. So, that'll be my challenge."

With all due respect to George, who is most likely going to the Hall of Fame for his stellar career, he may just be a victim of Father Time in terms of explosiveness. He just turned 36 years old on May 2 and has dealt with unfortunate injuries in his career.

Per basketball-reference, only 11.5% of his field goal attempts were within 0-to-3 feet of the rim. That is slightly up from 10.5% from the 2024-25 season, but it's still a low number. Also, 15% of his attempts came in the 10-to-16 feet range which means he's relying more on his mid-range jumper. Now, to George's point, he is healthy now so he can work on things a bit more in terms of his explosion, but it's hard to see him being able to get everything back ahead of 2026-27.