Paul George is an incredible basketballer who has grown into an elite two-way player. He had a slow start to his NBA career, averaging 7.8 points as a rotation player in his rookie season.
But the 10th overall pick in the 2010 NBA draft picked things up in his third season, getting his first All-Star nod. With his career starting to take flight, he had a gruesome leg injury that could have ended his career.
It was during a scrimmage for Team USA that George broke his leg. He was trying to effect a chase down stop on LeBron James, but he landed awkwardly and broke his leg. George sat out the majority of the 2014-2015 season, coming off the bench in the last six games of the season.
Strictlygreens on Instagram released a video of PG recounting his experience that led to the injury.
“I remember I’m on the ground tho, and I tried to get up, and I’m like wait, hol’ up. It was crazy because everything happened in slow mode. I can hear the crowd gasp. As I tried to stand, I notice I can’t stand. So, I like just look back, look at my surroundings, I see phones and s**t coming out. And I’m like, wait, what? So, I look at my leg, and by the time I look at my leg, shoutout, the trainer, he came and threw the towel on it. As I’m trying to get up he holds my chest down, like ‘yo, just relax, you gonna be okay.’ And that’s when the panic hit, and still, I didn’t feel it, just so much adrenaline, my body in shock.”
“I’m laying there, I’m not really understanding what’s going on. So I see my moms come down, I see my pops come down, and they say you gonna be okay son. The part where it started to hurt was when the stretcher came, and they had to move my leg to pick it up and put it on.”
It was a remarkable recovery from PG, as it could have been a career-ending injury for some. Since then, he has made five All-Star appearances and helped the Los Angeles Clippers reach the Western Conference finals in 2021.
George is currently out with an elbow injury but has done an outstanding job willing the Clippers to fifth place in the Western Conference with a 14-12 run. He is leading the team in scoring with 25.0 points per game while averaging 7.3 rebounds, 5.4 assists, and 1.9 steals.
