Between the three of them, Paul George, Tyrese Maxey, and Joel Embiid played in 134 of the 246 possible games combined in the regular season. That's just over 50% of their games in their first season together. Their absences from the lineup put Philadelphia 76ers coach Nick Nurse in tough positions every night. Injuries killed Philadelphia's season, resulting in a 24-58 record.
George addressed the biggest question mark on the 76ers roster each season on “The Pivot Podcast”. According to him, Embiid was the main reason why he signed with Philadelphia last summer. Unfortunately, the former MVP's constant absences made it difficult for the team to find any consistency. They navigated a constantly-changing season where Nurse's team had to adapt quickly in order to manufacture victories.
George had sympathy for his teammate, but said that his injuries made the season difficult.
“I’ve dealt with stuff popping up and being hurt and I know what that feeling is like,” said George. “I can only imagine you’re 7’2 270-280, you’re walking around carrying that size and how he plays so physical. I can only put myself in his shoes and understand how he felt in those days. I came here to play with him. I came to Philly to play with him. Damn, Big Fella is out tonight, alright how are we going to figure this one out. Now going into the games, Big Fella is unavailable right now so now we’ve got to kind of pivot on how we’re going to play tonight now. We were always kind of scrambling I think, trying to figure out alright this is how we’ve got to play tonight.”
After a tumultuous season, George gave veteran point guard Kyle Lowry his flowers as the team's locker room leader.
“I think a lot of people often think the best player has to take that role every time,” George said. “I think for our locker room Kyle Lowry stepped up and was the voice every single day.”
The 76ers have plenty of questions to answer before next season begins. Barring any further injuries, though, they should have their eyes set on returning to the postseason.