February 8, 2025

Paul George introduced as 76er as Daryl Morey anticipates ‘a special season’


For maybe the first time since 2019, when he had Jimmy Butler and a prime version of Ben Simmons, Joel Embiid will have a supporting cast around him good enough to make a real run deep into the postseason.

And perhaps for the first time in his career, Embiid won’t have to be everything for the Philadelphia 76ers. Tyrese Maxey is an All-NBA level guard in the making. Paul George, Daryl Morey’s big free agency acquisition, will immediately be among the best third options in the league. The Sixers haven’t been out of the second round of the postseason since Allen Iverson was torching everyone in the Eastern Conference.

When you add in that the Boston Celtics, New York Knicks and Milwaukee Bucks are all formidable foes, things obviously won’t be easy in Philly this winter. But this could be the best team Embiid has had around him.

Maxey and George are positively dynamic offensive talents. The role players beyond those three are deep and experienced. Heck, Andre Drummond even gives Embiid a talented backup, as mercurial as he can sometimes be.

This all explains why Morey couldn’t contain his smile Tuesday morning, as the Sixers formally introduced George in a news conference. And it’s why Morey couldn’t contain his wording, not like he tries to do that in the first place.

“We feel like we are going to have a special season,” Morey said.

Paul George is a Philadelphia 76er, a development that had long been rumored but came to fruition in the opening days of free agency. With his days with the LA Clippers coming to an end, George, long one of the best two-way players in basketball, heads east. With his family, his bags and belongings, George brings with him the hunger to win his first title. And, more than anything, past playoff failures are something he and Embiid have in common.

George has been in championship-level situations before, to varying degrees. He was the top guy on the Indiana Pacers team that advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals. He and Russell Westbrook thought they had teams good enough to win it all with the Oklahoma City Thunder. But his time with the Clippers, which crescendoed this past season with Kawhi Leonard and James Harden, ended with the biggest disappointment. That was the spot where George and Leonard were supposed to get to the promised land, and it never happened.

“Philly was the number one option for me, because fit my game and fit where I was with my career,” George said. “It just made sense with the other options out there. They’ve made me feel at home from day one, so in that sense it was an easy decision for me to make.”

The best fit for George at this point is the fact that he will be without question the third option, which is probably where his game is. Even when George was a first and second option, he’s always had the unselfish nature of being a connector, someone who can give a team a little bit of everything. This is the team where he can theoretically go out and give 19 points with eight rebounds and six assists and not take heat from a fan base needing 25-30 points from him. Embiid is one of the best scorers of this generation, particularly in the regular season. And Maxey is an apex scorer and creator at the guard spot and proved last spring that he’s also a playoff riser.

In that sense, Paul George can go to Philadelphia and be Paul George. There are times when he will obviously have to put on a cape and drop 30 or more points. But he’ll no longer have to give that kind of production nightly or near nightly for his team to thrive. He can defend, make plays for others and fill in the blanks where needed.

“We are a deep and complete team,” George said. “For us, it’s just about staying healthy and finishing healthy. The three of us are capable of carrying a heavy workload. I’m looking forward to playing with Joel. I haven’t played with someone that big that can just go out there and dominate. So I’m excited to see what that looks like.”

In addition to announcing George, Philadelphia plans to sign veteran guard Reggie Jackson who agreed on a contract buyout with the Charlotte Hornets, league sources confirmed to The Athletic Tuesday. ESPN first reported the news.

Jackson, 34, played in 82 games last season for the Denver Nuggets and averaged 10.2 points, 3.8 assists and 1.9 rebounds per game. 

As the 76ers look to fill out their roster to compete in the East, adding Jackson who has played in 87 career playoff games adds valuable depth that features several veterans in Caleb Martin, Andre Drummond and Eric Gordon.

Required reading

(Photo: Ron Jenkins / Getty Images)



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