Paul George has had an eventful offseason. He parted ways with the Los Angeles Clippers after five disappointing seasons, signing with the Philadelphia 76ers in free agency. But he had hoped for his offseason to be an even busier one, as he made no secret his desire to suit up for Team USA in their bid to bag home the gold medal in the 5-on-5 basketball competition in the 2024 Paris Olympics.
However, Team USA is now out there in Paris, awaiting the next game of their group stage journey against a team that had pushed them to the brink in South Sudan. Meanwhile, the new 76ers star is stateside, as he wasn't selected for the national team's 12-man roster. But George had known for a while that he wouldn't make the roster, as Grant Hill, the managing director of USA Basketball, relayed the news to George himself back in the 2024 NBA playoffs.
“So it just happened that I ran into Grant Hill during the playoffs in Dallas, like, ‘Yeah man, it just didn’t happen this year.’ I understood it like, I’m not going to be sorry about it but at the same time it was like damn, ‘I was looking forward to representing the USA and being part of that team,'” George said on the most recent episode of Podcast P with Paul George presented by Wave Sports + Entertainment.
Team USA passes up on Paul George
Given how stacked the roster Team USA deployed for Paris is, there were bound to be a few snubs here and there. Jaylen Brown, in particular, has been the most vocal about his perceived snub. But for Paul George, there are no ill feelings whatsoever regarding his exclusion from the 2024 Olympic roster.
“I wouldn’t say it hurts but I for sure wanted to do it,” George added.
Joining Team USA in Paris would have given Paul George a golden opportunity to build some early chemistry with his new teammate, 76ers star and former MVP Joel Embiid. But in the end, Team USA decided to go in another direction.
At the very least, George can hang his hat on the fact that he has already represented his country in the Olympics. Back in 2016, he played a rotation role in Team USA's run to the gold medal in Rio. Perhaps Grant Hill, much like he did for Kawhi Leonard, merely opted not to put George in further injury risk. After all, it was in 2014, during Team USA's preparation for the FIBA World Cup during that year, when George broke his leg and nearly missed the entirety of the 2014-15 NBA season.
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