This week, Paul George was blunt about the Philadelphia 76ers’ lack of competitive fire, saying his guys had shown “no signs of a team that will compete.”
It only took a few days for George to back up his talk with his own big decision.
George announced on Wednesday’s edition of Podcast P that he will take an indefinite break from the show, which he started less than a year ago. The veteran forward signed with the Sixers last offseason on a four-year maximum contract but slumped to his worst scoring season in over a decade.
Philadelphia is 20-37, sitting 12th in the NBA’s Eastern Conference in a season that began with championship aspirations.
“It’s no secret that this season is, up to this point, it hasn’t been what we envisioned,” George said.
“I know my goal when I first signed with Philadelphia was to bring a championship to these amazing fans here. I still remain positive about that, and that is still the case and where I’m coming from. With that being said, though, I want to let the Podcast P family know that after today’s episode … I plan to take a break from the pod just to focus on getting my body right, getting mentally right, and help this squad make a push toward our goal to finish the season out and give ourselves a chance to be in contention to compete for a championship.”
The Sixers are reportedly considering shutting 2023 NBA MVP Joel Embiid down for the season as he struggles to recover from knee issues. It will be an uphill battle even to make the league’s play-in tournament for the postseason.
George is pressing pause after the noise around George continuing to host his podcast picked up steam this week from a discussion on The Bill Simmons Podcast. Among the biggest athlete podcasters, George is the first to stop publishing episodes due to his team’s on-court performance.
Whether this is for optics reasons or George actually believes he can devote more time to his body and mind by not recording episodes, Podcast P is gone for now.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.