Sixers veteran forward Paul George has been suspended without pay for 25 games for violating the terms of the NBA/NBPA Anti-Drug Program, the league announced (Twitter link). George’s suspension will begin with Saturday’s game against the Pelicans.
George won’t be eligible to play until Philadelphia’s last 10 games of the season. His earliest return date is March 25 against Chicago.
In a statement to ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link), George claimed that he took an “improper medication” to deal with his mental health issues.
“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,” the statement read. “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.”
The suspension will have a huge impact in a variety of ways, most obviously on the Sixers’ drive to finish in the top six in the East and stay out of the play-in tournament. They’re currently 26-21, sixth-best in the East.
Another offshoot of the suspension is that Philadelphia will receive a tax variance credit of $5,871,147, per ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link). That will move the Sixers just $1.26MM over the luxury tax, Marks notes (Twitter link), giving them added incentive to shed a little salary at the trade deadline in order to become a non-taxpayer.
While Joel Embiid said this week that he hopes the 76ers won’t prioritize ducking the tax, that was when the team was operating roughly $7MM above the luxury tax line. The equation will likely change now that a minor move involving a non-rotation player – rather than a key contributor like Kelly Oubre Jr. or Quentin Grimes – could get the team below that threshold.
In 27 games this season, George is averaging 16.0 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.7 assists per night. The suspension will cost him $11,742,293, per Marks, who observes that George can be moved to the suspended list after the fifth game of the ban. In that scenario, he wouldn’t count toward the 15-man roster during the final 20 games of the suspension, temporarily freeing up an extra roster spot for Philadelphia.
The Sixers signed George to a four-year, maximum-salary contract in the summer of 2024 but it hasn’t gone well so far. George spent most of last season dealing with injuries and the Sixers have tried to manage his persistent knee issues with load management this season.
The gift that keeps on giving…that contract just when you think it couldn’t get worst
To be fair, they’re 6.5 points better per 100 possessions with him on the floor this year
The good news is he will lose 11+ mil and the cap relief we will get is 5.7 ish. We are currently 7 over. If we can dump Gordon and or Drum we can duck the tax and sign Barlow and Walker to full contracts. It could also help to have George enter the playoffs likely healthy…yeah, I’m grasping at straws, this sucks lol
George rested and with fresh legs sounds almost too good. Almost fishy.
“grasping at straws” maybe, but you know how to laugh, and that’s a big deal.
Oooops ……. I thought it was steroids.
Oof
Does this mean they can’t trade him for Giannis?
That’s a really good question, can you trade a suspended player?
Yes, a suspended player can be traded in the NBA. A suspension, whether imposed by the team or the league, does not invalidate a player’s contract, allowing them to be moved.
But
Bucks are unlikely to take George contract because George wants to play for a good team or a big market
Is he tradable in summer?
After this boneheaded move I’d trade him to like New Orleans or some crap team.
“Bucks are unlikely to take George contract because George wants to play for a good team or a big market”
Also because he’s on an awful contract and sucks.
You can trade him for Jimmy Butler
No, not for Giannis, but the ghost of Gus Triandos.
Nice pull grabbing a SF boy in Gus. I guess Joe D is too much to give up for Giannis, maybe Dom works.
I never want to see this guy on this team ever again.
He’s saying it was some sort of MH stimulant. If that was the case why not see a doctor and prescribed. Athletes can be so stupid sometimes.
It was probably some bad weed..😁😁
Bad weed? LMAO stop. Nobody is putting extra drugs in weed for free.
There are two likely possibilities. The first is Paul is so lazy and/or stupid he didn’t fill out the basic forms to get authorization and notify the league. He is not the only player with ADHD in the league and this type of thing has been documented in order sports. Because he didn’t get prior authorization he got in trouble. The second possibility is he either took more than what he’s prescribed for daily or took a medication that he wasn’t specifically prescribed for. Either way he’s an idiot.
PG got caught in scoring spike that didn’t go unnoticed,his use of Vyvanse or something similar isn’t as uncommon as first reported. Got to make a example of someone now and again I suppose.
He probably did some coke at a party or a lot of parties and his piss came up hot. Let’s go right to the worst case scenario bc all the other stuff doesn’t make sense. George cane here for a pay day and the sixers were happy to give an old guy pre retirement money based on his name and who he was more than 5 years ago. This team loves giving bad contracts to aging vets.
He should’ve chosen microdosed mushrooms instead. They don’t drug test for psilocybin
That’s a lot of money that won’t be going to his wife’s “Daniela Rajic-George” travel and Botox fund.
Cheating never wins!
Patriots disagree.
Astros disagree.
What !!!!! I can’t hear you with the trash can banging ….
I’ve said it for years, he’s probably the most overrated player in the league. Now’s he’s the dumbest too. Not a great combo.
Idk man flat earthers are pretty dumb and there’s at least one of those in the NBA lol
I only respected him for 1 year in his 2019 thunder season but after that people were treating him like a top 10 player even though he averaged 20 points and decent defense while getting injured every year
Bobby Portis for the Bucks last year and now Paul George this year… he was playing solid basketball as of late so this will hurt the 76ers for sure
Daryl Morey chose to pay Paul George over James Harden. That’s difficult to justify.
Literally any chatter in these hoopsrumors comments sections clears Morey. I have never seen such an incompetent guy get job after job he does nothing to earn. Zero rings = you don’t deserve to keep getting a job. Let someone else have a turn.
I have been saying it since he was with Rockets. And moved CP3 to please Harden. He got lucky with Harden and has done nothing else.
Maxey was the reasoning. I’ll never disagree with you that I wouldn’t have given THAT deal to PG13 myself. The reasoning was Maxey.
@dpcollects
I’m unfamiliar with this Maxey-PG13 situation, can you elaborate?
James Harden was not staying in Philadelphia but the 76ers should have used that George salary on more role players
To be fair though, Harden made it pretty clear that he wanted out of Philly after Morey didn’t give him the extension
Trust the process.
Buddy was taking MDMA for his mental health
Steve Kerr sits in a k-hole for 48 minutes a game and no one says anything!
He was spotted sucking a pacifier at the club.
Again? Lmao
Is that the drug they’re suspending him for? I was guessing weed or adderrall.
They don’t test for weed anymore and no idk what he got busted on I was just being an a$$ lol
lol gotcha. I’m so curious as to what it is.
And he still has two years on his contract plus a player option? Which you know he’ll be exercising. Three more years they are stuck with this guy.
I hope this suspension is not over smoking pot. I mean it’s legal most everywhere and it does give one the stamina and peace of mind to make it thru lots of mental and physical turmoil.
The NBA doesn’t care about players smoking weed until the get arrested
Oh yeah some love their weed, their guns too… No a perfect world by any means🗣️
I’m willing to bet that it is. And marijuana has different effects on ppl. Some can think better, others get loopy and lazy.
nba doesn’t test for pot it hasn’t for quite some time. KD woulda been suspended 100x by now otherwise lol
The NBA doesn’t even test for it anymore.
Kind of weird that he suspension showed up when A) The Sixers were talking about getting under the Tax and B) They were resting George on and off anyway to rest him for the Playoffs. Who prescribed this mystery drug? Who would know that you could get under the Luxury Tax by having one of your players suspended? Should that even be allowed? The NBA is a strange place with even stranger rules. I think he rules were written by guys dropping acid. They’re far out man. LOL
Wasn’t there an MVP in Australian Rules Football who was like, smoking crack the entire time? Maybe there should not be rules for drugs, just let it all fly? lol
This doesn’t void his contract he’s just suspended without pay. The contract still impacts their cap space.
Seems like the worst part about this is that he cost someone else a roster spot. I’d definitely hold a grudge if I got cut because Podcast P was doing shrooms courtside
Another Freudian comment that is most definitely true.
All of those positives for the Philly roster, but the Heat still arent allowed to trade Rozier, use his roster spot, or get any type of exception from his dead salary lmao
The difference being, At least the way I see it, Is Rozier still hasn’t been convicted yet. George admitted to it and took responsibility. Rozier is suspended in perpetual limbo until he comes to trial. It’s semantics I know but there it is.
But he still isnt allowed to play, and is only on the roster in the first place b/c the league didnt tell the Heat he was already under investigation, and allowed him to be traded, but now they cant even say if he can still be traded, but the limbo still exists
Meanwhile, its an expiring contract, so it should be an easy decision, but why not even just let them cut him and open the roster spot, and have like 1/3 of his salary as an exception, so its not excessive, and call that fair enough…that is at least better than nothing, and saying “o well, sorry about your damn luck,” and waiving it off like it doesnt matter, as the league has been doing
Instead, the Heat dont even know what their options even are. They’re literally just hoping it works out and he will be allowed to be traded, with zero indicaton it will or wont be allowed
I despise the Heat but they are getting hosed here
Oh I totally agree they are getting hosed but if I started to list all the dumb crap and rules that exist in the NBA we’d be here all week.
That’s too bad. I’ll withhold judgment on the guy. He screwed up, no doubt. I hope he gets the help he needs for whatever the cause of the issue is. Whether it’s related to mental health issues or related to all the injuries he’s had and a result of that, I don’t know and it’s really none of my business. He’s had a great career and hopefully he can come back from this.
Podcast P taking a page out of Ben Simmons playbook – blame mental health issues, lol.
Mental health issues, the scourge of this digital age …… the excuse some athletes use to hide their shakes, bad juju or bad weed.
First of all whoa!!!
Second …what the hell could he have taken…why isnt that made public?
He really fouled up the Sixers here
Has not impacted winning since he was at the Pacers, now he does this to his team… Sixers fans really are cursed…
how does morey still have a job ? first harden flop .. now pg8 flounder
Morey signing Embid and George to those long term max contracts at their age and dubious health issues has handcuffed this team for years . They are wasting several years of Maxey and Edgecombe
and have no flexibility to improve. They were betting on the two old guys to miraculously get younger and healthier.
Come on, we all want to know what the “improper medication” is. Spill the beans! Maybe he will say on his podcast. Lols.
Well now they just have to dump Gordon for nothing and they are below the tax. So they can keep the rest of the roster intact and not trade Drummond. I would see if the Thunder have any interest or another team with a bunch of injuries that just need a body to get thru.
Playoff P
Pandemic P
Podcast P
Pinky P
Prescription P
(saw this comment in YT, added the Pinky P)
Trust the additional PROCESSed CHEESE.
I’m not a conspiracy theorist but maybe he worked out a side deal to get paid what he’s being suspended for, but now the Sixers just have to trade Eric Gordon to dip the tax, and he returns for the playoffs.