Clippers star Paul George is the hottest player in the NBA not named Warriors’ Stephen Curry

The NBA season always seems to get more intense and pick up steam soon after the All-Star break. That's usually when it's go-time for most championship contenders and they tighten the screws and lock in a little bit more on everything they do. Everyone has talked about how Golden State Warriors star Stephen Curry has upped his game during the month of April, but Los Angeles Clippers star Paul George has arguably been just as hot Curry this month, if not more.

George has been dealing with bone edema in his foot since late January, causing him to miss a few weeks of action. After a few hiccups as George and the Clippers tried to figure out the best way to attack the injury while allowing him to play, PG has been a blowtorch.

In April, George has led the Clippers to an NBA-best 8-2 record while averaging 29.6 points 7.6 rebounds 5.1 assists, 1.5 steals, and 3.5 3-pointers per game on an absurd 49.8 percent shooting from the field, 43.8 percent from beyond the arc, and 91.1 percent from the free-throw line. He has scored at least 30 points six straight times and in seven of the last eight games.

“He’s been playing at a high level all year outside of when he got injured,” Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue said of Paul George's hot streak. “But I think Paul is just taking what the defense is giving him. I think he’s been in a good groove, a good rhythm.”

Beyond just April, Paul George is having a fantastic, bounce-back season with the Clippers following his struggles in the 2020 postseason:

• 24.0 points
• 6.5 rebounds
• career-high 5.4 assists
• 1.2 steals
• career-high 47.9% FG
• career-high 42.9% 3PT
• 89.1% FT

George's comments angered NBA fans when he said he didn't feel like he was being used properly last season under head coach Doc Rivers. The new Philadelphia 76ers coach, in turn, responded by saying that Ty Lue, Rivers' coaching protege, isn't that much different from himself when it comes to designing an offensive system.

If this year has shown us anything, it's that, well, Lue is different from Rivers when it comes to placing his stars in the best offensive and defensively positions possible. So what has been the key for Lue to help bring out this version of PG?

“Just seeing him play throughout the course of his career and then playing against him when he was in Indiana and all the playoff series and the things that he was dangerous in,” Lue explained prior to a recent Clippers game. “For me, I just wanted to put the ball in his hands more, and let him make all the reads and all the plays and passes out of the pick-and-roll, whether he turns the ball over or not, just something it was new to him but having him play that point guard role and he’s taken huge steps in that regard making plays for himself and his teammates.

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“And then I wanted to bring him off more pindowns and screens to kind of move him around so teams can’t lock into where he’s at on the floor. Like I said, our coaching staff has just been looking at different ways to keep him involved and keep him engaged and catching the ball in his spots and then just putting him in the right spots where he was able to do that. So, nothing that we watched from OKC or anything like that, but being on the team last year and seeing some different things that we can do with him.”

George's numbers and impact on the floor the last few weeks have reminded everyone of his stellar play with the Thunder a few years ago, when he finished third in MVP voting. Paired with the fact that the Clippers are in position to earn the Western Conference's second seed thanks in large part to George despite routinely missing players due to injury, and it's easy to say PG is playing the best ball of his career.

“Um, not of my career, but I’m playing the best ball in the past couple years,” George responded about the notion that this is the best basketball of his career. “I think just being able to not only score, but just make plays, make the game easy for everyone around me while still trying to do a little bit of everything. Rebound, defense, It’s not so much on the offensive end, it’s being able to play on both ends and just do everything. I love having a big impact on the game more than just scoring, so to me, it’s just having the impact and I get more of a thrill making plays for others than scoring so that’s really my prime objective. It just makes the game easy for everyone and by doing so, I gotta be aggressive to score. That’s what makes everything else open up for my teammates.”

It's probably too late for Paul George to enter the MVP discussion at this point in the season, especially when guys like Stephen Curry and Nikola Jokic haven't missed much time at all. He is, however, making a strong push that deserves to be recognized akin to every Curry 3-pointer or every Jokic assist that people lose their minds over.

A lot of fans and trolls have gotten jokes off about George over the last year, but especially in these two instances: following the 2020 postseason and the signing of a four-year, $190 million extension with the Clippers a few months after. This great regular season needs to be followed up by a great postseason. Ultimately, the playoffs are where he'll need to show up, prove, and redeem himself, but the seven-time All-Star appears to be on a very clear mission so far this year. As Jamal Christopher has warned everyone on Twitter multiple times this year: “Get your Playoff P and Pandemic P jokes off, hurry up. We goin up this go round.”

“I'm back with the trainer from my near-MVP season,” George warned before the season. “I get an offseason to work on my game. I’m as locked in as you can be. I listen to Kobe motivational quotes while I lift, while I work out. I'm on motherf**kers asses this year.”