Things change at a rapid pace in the NBA, and there is nothing anybody can do about it other than be willing to make quick, significant adjustments.

Take, for example, the Sixers and Paul George. The Sixers have had many tumultuous offseasons in recent franchise history; that have played out to varying degrees of success. But last summer, President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey and co. were lauded just about universally for executing a series of transactions which most believed revitalized the organization's chances of building a championship contender around Joel Embiid.

At the center of it all was George, who broke things off with his hometown team, spurning the Los Angeles Clippers to join forces with Embiid, Morey, Tyrese Maxey and the Sixers in Philadelphia. George, 34, signed a four-year max contract worth over $211 million. George put pen to paper, justifying a year-long process of methodical planning which enabled the Sixers to pounce when one of the NBA's premiere two-way wings became available.

The Sixers had Embiid, who was favored to win his second straight Most Valuable Player Award before suffering a knee injury last January. They had Maxey, one of the league's most impressive young stars and the reigning Most Improved Player Award winner. And slotting in between them as the ideal fit was George, a nine-time All-Star who could enhance any unit thanks to his versatility in terms of skill and positional placement.

After landing George and a series of other veteran signings, the Sixers were declared by many to be the winners of the offseason. And that is where things changed -- a lot.

By any measure, the 2024-25 Sixers have been one of the most disappointing teams in the history of the storied franchise. They have played one decent month of basketball in a season filled with disappointing performances, injuries and injury setbacks, controversies and many other developments which have led to a dark cloud hanging over the organization.

On Monday evening, it became official that George's underwhelming debut season with the Sixers had come to a close after 41 games. George underwent injections in his left adductor muscle and left knee, the Sixers confirmed after ESPN reported the news. It was the punctuation mark at the end of a season in which George was devastated by injuries, from two left knee bone bruises early in the season to a bizarre and bothersome extensor tendon injury which immobilized his left pinky finger to the final blow, his groin issue.

Much of George's first season with the Sixers was inconsistent. Whether George was healthy or gutting it out with an ailment of some kind, whether he was playing with other stars or had the freedom to hunt his own shot, only one thing was consistent: George did not play close to well enough.

George's season now being complete offers a chance to observe his statistical profile with some finality and begin to explore what all of it says about his future. A good place to start: aside from the 2014-15 season in which he only played six games due to a broken leg, George has averaged at least 21.5 points per game in every season for over a decade. In his debut campaign with the Sixers, he scored just 16.2 points per game. George's scoring volume took a massive dip this season, and he also posted his second-worst scoring efficiency season of the last 10 years:

The most glaring issue which plagued George all season long: diminished off-the-dribble burst, which prevented him from consistently creating advantages as a downhill driver. George continued to find himself being cut off on driving attempts, forced to settle for far more jumpers than what would be ideal:

George has always been a finesse player at heart who was reliant on his brilliant shot-making chops, but that tremendous skill was aided significantly by his ability to get to the rim. Most stars need to be credible threats to generate good shots for themselves as a driver or pull-up shooter; otherwise opposing defenses will make a concerted effort to take away whichever is the only method they are comfortable using to score. If teams clearly know that George cannot beat them consistently as a driver, it will become much harder for him to flourish as a pull-up shooter. 

It felt all season that George's shot diet was not lending itself to strong efficiency numbers. Luckily, basketball-reference and its "Shooting" tool came in handy all year long as a device to monitor the average distance of George's shot attempts, and his frequencies taking shots within five different ranges of distance from the basket. Those numbers, especially when compared to George's marks in the same areas during his time with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Los Angeles Clippers, paint a harrowing picture: George's frequencies in the least efficient areas of the floor are steadily going up, while his frequencies in the most efficient regions are on a steep decline:

Moving forward, perhaps the easiest solution for the Sixers would be to plan for George to have a lesser burden in terms of shot creation. It would be a blow in the wake of Joel Embiid's constant lack of availability, but perhaps it is one the Sixers could withstand in theory. Next season, Tyrese Maxey will be joined in the backcourt by Jared McCain, who in 23 games as a rookie looked like a dynamic three-level scorer powered by elite shot-making skills. The Sixers are also in strong position to retain Quentin Grimes, who has blossomed into a brilliant scorer since joining the team at the trade deadline. Between Maxey's steady presence and the complete integration of McCain and Grimes, the Sixers could have enough firepower in terms of perimeter scoring to enable George to take a step back in that department.

George can take that step back while still being a valuable part of this team. George was once a premiere defender on the wing in addition to his excellent scoring, but predictably began declining on that end of the floor during his time with the Clippers. To George's credit, though, he stepped up as a defender for the Sixers, taking on challenging on-ball assignments more often than most expected while being an effective defensive playmaker. He still provides spot-up shooting and occasional off-the-dribble shot-making, can add secondary creation and help out on the glass.

So, for a moment, the outlook is not all that bad. But then the conversation crashes back down to a harsh reality stemming from George's remaining contract:

This is not a suitable contract for a non-star, particularly when Embiid is already on the books for another four years and $248 million after this season and is a massive question mark. In the NBA's new salary cap environment, winning anything of meaning as a team with an albatross contract on the books will be much more of an uphill battle than it already was. The Sixers appear to have two of those restrictive deals on their cap sheet moving forward.

Many are already suggesting that the Sixers simply call for an early breakup with George, cutting their losses and trading him for the best return they can possibly get. But everybody just witnessed the season George had. Any team seriously contemplating trading for him would rewatch every shot, every drive and every minute he played this season, reread every injury report he was listed on and, perhaps most important, refocus on those gnarly salary cap numbers.

Which NBA front office is going to examine all of that material and elect to make a trade for George? Crazier things have happened, but this would be a pretty crazy thing. As convenient as it would be for the Sixers to decide to wash their hands of the George experience for the sake of their future salary cap endeavors, every trade needs (at least) two participants. It is far from a guarantee that the Sixers will even have the opportunity to discuss trading George in any sort of serious capacity; if they do they may be the ones forced to give up assets in the deal.

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In some painful way it is ironic that George, the player who was to some degree signed to replace Tobias Harris after the expiration of a five-year, $180 million contract which hamstrung the Sixers for Embiid's entire prime, has almost instantly taken Harris' place near the very top of the list of the most damaging contracts in the NBA from the team's perspective. 

This is technically a new reality the Sixers are operating in, but unfortunately for the organization it is one that feels fairly familiar.

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