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Just as he was able to find his footing as a superstar in the NBA, Paul George suffered a brutal lower leg injury that essentially removed him for an entire year. While NBA stars showed an outpouring of support for him, the Philadelphia 76ers star says that boxer Floyd Mayweather was a big supporter of his at the time of the injury.
Paul George Sr. was the most recent guest on an episode of Podcast P with Paul George, where he opened up about what it was like to watch his son go through the leg injury. Among the things discussed was the outpouring of support George received from his NBA family.
George Sr., however, also made sure to note that Floyd Mayweather contributed heavily when his son was in the hospital.
“Floyd came every day, Paul George Sr. said. “He said forget the hospital food, and he brought… I mean he brought all of the soul food in Vegas.”
“He had the floor smelling like he was at momma's kitchen.”
Mayweather resided in Las Vegas at the time and just finished a match against Marcos Maidana a few months earlier.
“Floyd was at the hospital every day,” George, now with the 76ers, recalled. “Floyd pulled up at least — I was at the hospital at least six or seven days — Floyd probably game 3 or 4 days out of that. ‘P, I'll be back tomorrow. I'll come check on you.' The next day comes, he's there with a fresh plate of soul food. So big shout out to Floyd.”
That's pretty incredible of Floyd Mayweather to come to the hospital and support George in multiple ways.
In addition to the undefeated boxer, George also said Kobe Bryant called him and provided the support necessary to begin his rehab process.
“He was like, ‘If you need anything from me, I'm here. I'm in this with you.'” Paul George revealed. “But he was just like, ‘The rehab is going to be tough. The work is going to be hard.' And he was like, ‘Nobody wants to rehab,' because this is the first time I've ever been injured or broke anything. I fucked my ankle up in college, but it didn't requite surgery, it was just time off. So this was like the first injury I ever had that required surgery. He was just like, ‘The work is going to be tedious, its going to be tiresome, you're not going to want to do it, but my advice is to attack rehab the same way you attack working out on the court.' He was like, ‘You find fun in working out on the basketball court. You've got to find that same fun for the rehab. There's no other way you're going to get through it. It's just attack rehab like you attack the basketball court.'”
Since the injury, Paul George has transformed himself into a better player than who he was. He's been named to nine NBA All-Star teams and four All-NBA teams, including a career-year in Oklahoma City where he averaged 28 points, 8.2 rebounds, 4.1 assists, and 2.2 steals per game on 43.8 percent shooting from the field and 38.6 percent from three.
In that 2018-19 season, George was also a third place finisher for MVP, third place finisher for Defensive Player of the Year, First Team All-NBA member and First Team All-Defensive Team member.
The 76ers star is hopeful to be more available with Philadelphia than he was in Los Angeles, where he missed significant time due to nagging injuries.
