The Philadelphia 76ers made one of the biggest splashes of this past NBA offseason by luring in former Los Angeles Clippers All-Star forward Paul George with a four-year maximum contract. George joins a team that has already been established as a formidable threat around center Joel Embiid, and the 76ers are now firmly entrenched along with the New York Knicks as the main challengers to the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference.
While the 76ers were long viewed as a potential landing spot for George in free agency, now more information is being revealed about the NBA player who helped Embiid recruit George to the City of Brotherly Love: none other than nine-year veteran Quincy Pondexter, who recently appeared on #thisleague UNCUT, via Marc Stein's Substack, per FOX Sports Radio on X.
“Joel's one of my best friends. And so how Joel got Paul's number to start trying to pitch it to him was through me. … I don't even know how much the Sixers know this, but quietly one of the biggest — I hate to say this — one of the biggest pieces in that was me being like: ‘Yo, Joel, you got to keep recruiting [George], you gotta try to get him, you gotta get him, you gotta talk to him, you gotta, you know, whatever it is,” said Pondexter on the 76ers recruitment process.
“… There was a time when Joel gave up. He was like: ‘There's no way he's coming, there's no way he's coming to Philly, there's no chance.’ I called P's friends and they were like: ‘Q, trust me. He has a great chance. You guys are doing right.' ”
A huge free agency splash
Although there were several big acquisitions this summer made by teams across the league, perhaps none was more impactful than what the 76ers were able to do with George. While big threes may not be as in style as they were three years ago, the 76ers' three-headed snake of Embiid, George, and Tyrese Maxey is unique in that there don't appear to be many redundancies in the games of the three stars, whereas other trios like that of the Phoenix Suns' had far too much overlap to find success.
The main question, as has long been the case with the 76ers, is health, as Embiid's injury history is well chronicled and George also brings along a considerable risk in that department as well.
However, if this team is able to stay on the floor, they will certainly be the most talented 76ers team of the Embiid era.
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