LAS VEGAS — Google the phrase “Paul George injury” and page upon page of videos surface, offering gruesome reminders of the worst night of his career. It was almost two years ago when he suffered a compound fracture of his tibia and fibula during an exhibition game with the national team before they broke camp en route to the FIBA Basketball World Cup.
Paul George is rewriting his Team USA legacy at the scene of his gruesome injury
Two years after suffering a gruesome injury during a Team USA scrimmage, Paul George is back on track as a superstar for the Pacers and his country.
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With a maximum contract extension set to kick in, and coming off back-to-back trips to the conference finals with the Pacers, George was about to ascend to even greater heights as a signature star and a certified franchise player. It’s amazing, really, when you consider that not only is George back for the Olympics, he has regained his form as one of the best two-way players in the league.
George never had any serious doubts about returning to the national team. Sure, he acknowledged that he’s a little nervous about playing in the same gym he suffered that horrible injury, but that wasn’t going to keep him away. He needed to get out there again and this is just one final step on his remarkable comeback.
“All the bad that happened to myself on that night, I owed it to myself to come back out here and compete for my country,” George said. “It was a bump in the road, literally. But it’s a game and injuries happen. It was a freak accident. Something that probably won’t ever happen again, knock on wood. This is what I do. I put myself in that position. It happened, it’s about how I return.
“It wasn’t even about the injury,” he continued. “I wanted to win a gold medal more than I wanted to come back and play because of the injury. Yeah the injury has something to do with it, but it doesn’t have everything to do with it.”
George played only a few games the following season as the Pacers slid out of contention and all the way out of the playoffs. Last year, he took the court without Lance Stephenson, David West or Roy Hibbert and set about making the team and himself whole again.
There were brilliant moments, like a stretch of games in early December when PG lit the league on fire and had everyone proclaiming that he was all the way back. And there were harder moments when he had to reconcile all the changes that had happened both to his team and to him physically and mentally.
Honest and introspective, sometimes to a fault, George worked through the challenges in real time. Yet, all things considered, he held up remarkably well. He was an All-Star again and a third-team All-NBA player, as well. Appearing in 81 games, he averaged a career-high 23 points and led the Pacers back to the postseason.
It was during the playoffs when George really reminded everyone just how dynamic he is on the court, coming within a seventh game of a first round upset over the Raptors. He was clearly the best player in a series that also featured fellow Olympians Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan. By the end of the season, George had reclaimed his status as a legitimate star and arguably the second-best player in the East after LeBron James.
“I was still trying to find my way, still trying to work through some things physically,” he said. “Now I know I’m healthy. I know I’m 100 percent. I’m back to being myself. There’s no limitations. There’s no thoughts in my mind that I’m limited.”
He’ll rejoin a Pacer team in the fall that will once again look a little bit different than the one he left, and a whole lot different from the one that was once in serious championship contention. George Hill, the final starter left from those teams, was traded in the offseason for Jeff Teague. Even center Ian Mahinmi is gone, replaced by a combination of Thaddeus Young and Al Jefferson. The changes have George energized about what’s to come.
“I like it,” he said. “Jeff is an All-Star. At the end of the day he’s an All-Star (level player). He’s going to make the game a lot easier for myself, as well, as I look forward to playing alongside him and making the game easier for him. I think Thad is underrated. He’s been slept on and forgotten about and we already know how Al is, so I think we got something special cooking in Indiana.
“It just goes to show the evolution of this game,” he added. “I’m looked upon as the leader and the longest tenured Pacer now. It’s sunk in, but I don’t think it will officially sink in until training camp starts and I’m looking around and I’m the face of it.”
But that’s for later. For now, George is focused on being one of the leaders for the USA Olympic effort. Without LeBron or Chris Paul or Steph Curry or James Harden, he’s one of the bigger names here in camp. Coach Mike Krzyzewski offered him clear direction when rejoined the national team: just be yourself. As George said, “Just be you, trust yourself, be confident.”
That won’t be a problem for George. He’s back and ready to prove it all over again.
