Paul George returns to court 8 months after horrific leg injury

It’s been eight months since George suffered a compound fracture in his leg during a Team USA scrimmage. George has been practicing for a while and suggested he could have been ready to play earlier, but didn’t want to upset the balance his teammates had found during a seven-game win streak.

Of course, George will have to adjust back to the speed of the game, and nobody’s expecting him to be the same guy who was an All-NBA Third Team in 2014 right away.

“I still don’t know when my return date will be,” admitted George. “I wanted it to be March 14, but that obviously didn’t happen.”

George told Yahoo! Sports’ Marc Spears in mid-February that he was gunning for that March 14 return, which set up some of the hype surrounding his potential comeback this season. Then, last Friday, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported that George would be back within a week and possibly even as early as last Saturday.

George broke out last year, averaging 21.6 points, 6.7 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.9 steal per game on his way to an All-NBA third team berth and All-Defensive first team spot. He won’t likely regain his level easily after such a long absence but it’s in his and the franchise’s best interest for him to return as soon as possible so he can get comfortable playing again. If the Pacers make the playoffs, he will at least provide wing depth and shot creation, which Indiana sorely needs.

Regardless of how he performs, it will be a great thing to just see him out there after such a gruesome accident.

Adding a player of his talent to a team that is already clicking could only make the Pacers more dangerous, right? Not according to George, who recently said to the Indianapolis Star that he is “on the fence” about playing this season:

“Part of me is (thinking), they’re playing so well, they’ve come together, to shake up the chemistry and add another body, another player in there ... I don’t want to be that guy that destroys what these guys have going.”

It’s not the grinding defensive mentality we associate with Indiana of late, but with the eight wins in 12 games, it’s clearly working.

All signs point to George playing sooner than later; mid-March is currently the target. When he does, the Pacers will likely ease him back into NBA shape. It’s been seven months since his injury and an adjustment period should be expected.

NEW YORK -- Paul George is in New York City, but he’s far from the spotlight that nearly swallowed him whole 12 months ago.

The Indiana Pacer sits on a stool at a nightclub near Madison Square Park in Manhattan. He’s here to explain why he became the second NBA player to design his own custom line of New Era Caps (James Harden is the other). A designer walks the room through several prototypes before creating one on the spot on his laptop. George watches intently, intrigued that someone could replicate his new PG-13 moniker on a hat.

Indiana doesn’t want to rush George back, but Bird said the team wouldn’t hold him out if he’s ready to play (via @Pacers): “If he gets healthy and they say he can play and he wants to play, we’ll let him play.”

George added fuel to the fire by posting this message on Twitter.

Five and a half months ago, Paul George suffered one of the worst leg injuries an NBA player has ever experienced. On Thursday, Jan. 15, the Indiana Pacers star dunked in practice for the first time. (David West claims George actually threw it down in December during a long Pacers road trip, but this is the first time the public has actually seen it).

George still has a long way to go until he’s healthy enough to play in a game, but the 15-25 Pacers are only 1.5 games out of eighth place in the East and ...

Paul George seemed at ease while driving in a Ferrari to his first press conference since a suffering devastating compound fracture in his right leg during a Team USA scrimmage on Aug. 1. Once he got there, he told reporters he’s confident he’ll recover fully.

“It’s a bump in the road,” George said. “Something that’ll make me stronger going forward.”

George is projected to miss the full season after breaking his leg during a horrifying scene at the USA Basketball scrimmage last week. George’s injury triggered a huge response around the NBA as current and former players pledged their support for the 24-year-old wing.

George averaged 21.7 points and 6.8 rebounds for the Pacers last year. He was named an All-Star for the second time in his career and was named First Team All-Defense.

George’s broken leg suffered Friday in Team USA’s scrimmage raised questions about NBA players’ national team involvement, and Cuban is re-hashing his opinion. While this summer’s World Cup is a FIBA-sponsored event, Cuban put the International Olympic Committee on blast in an interview with ESPN.

Cuban also spoke with the Dallas Morning News in a similar tone, summing up his thoughts by saying that NBA teams “take on an inordinate amount of financial risk for little, if any, quantifiable gain.” Be it FIBA or Olympic competition, the fact remains that teams don’t get much out of allowing their players to play.

After the Pacers star’s horrific injury on Friday, he received an outpouring of support from the rest of the NBA. He also received a surprise guest in the hospital.

Wait ... how did ... why was Floyd in the ... who let him ...

George’s status is uncertain. He is being transported to a local hospital, where a full diagnosis will be made.

We won’t show the replay because it was that bad. ESPN didn’t even show replays more than once. After a long delay, the coach and players made the decision to cut the scrimmage short.