At 36 years old and with notably dodgy health in recent years, there was some question entering the season about how the Boston Celtics would use new forward Paul George. Would he play 30-plus minutes, as he has done in each of his injury-free NBA seasons? Would he be available in back-to-backs? Maybe he would start with a low usage rate early on, hoping to work him more and more into what the Celtics are doing as the year goes on?
Well, we’re just a week into the season and already, we have an answer: The Celtics are putting no kid gloves on George here in October. He is averaging 31.3 minutes thus far, with a usage rate of 28.0, his highest since he was Clipper back in 2022-23. And when he got the first chance to play in a back-to-back this week, with wins against the Bulls and Nets, George was there, scoring 36 points total in the two games, with 30 shot attempts.
Paul George Averaging 22.3 Points for Celtics
George, when he met with the media after the trade and again at Celtics media day, insisted that he could still be a very effective player and that the past two years–when he played just 78 games combined, missing 25 for a suspension–were an anomaly. So far, George is averaging 22.3 points and making 47.0% of his shots, and 43.6% of his 3-point tries.
George gave out an update on how he’s feeling these days the other night.
He said: “I mean, I feel great. I feel great again. I think, knock on wood, those days are behind me. I have been feeling really good, health-wise. But we’re, the main goal is to get to the end of the year and be healthy at the end of the year. So, whatever it is, the approach, I am ready for it, whether it is playing back-to-backs, whether it is smart approach to back-to-backs.
“We’ll get to that when the time is there but I feel good. I felt good out there and, yeah, we’ll see how I feel.”
George and the Celtics play the Bulls on Friday in Boston as an NBA Cup game. Tipoff is slated for 7:30 p.m. ET.
Celtics’ Paul George Gives Health Update After Back-to-Back