Podcast P With Paul George: “Knee Injury, Almost Playing With LeBron, SGA Trade, & More”

Paul George discusses his knee injury for the first time on “Podcast P”.

We share today’s episode of “Podcast P with Paul George”, presented by Wave Sports + Entertainment, which features PG offering his personal POV on the play that led to his knee sprain and insight on when he thinks he’ll be able to return to play.

EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS

• [2:54] – PAUL GEORGE SHARES HIS POV ON THE PLAY THAT LEAD TO HIS KNEE INJURY

“Initially I got the rebound and I see [Lou Dort] swipe to try and get the ball but it’s out of his rebounding area…I come down and feel his knee hit mine and immediately I just felt my leg go back. S automatically I dropped the ball like fuck that shit…I like how Lou Dort competes hard, it was just a wild play from his side. I had the ball and he finished through me….The way he hit me, my knee didn’t have a chance to absorb my fall so my leg kinda just get stuck . So when he hit me my leg went backward because it’s the only way my leg could have went.”

• [4:27] – PG ON THINKING HE TORE HIS ACL AFTER INITIALLY COLLIDING WITH LOU DORT

“It was like that where like you just close your eyes and say ‘damn when is it gonna stop!”…It was throbbing and hurting and THE only thing going through my mind was, ‘I hope I didn’t tear no major shit. I hope I didn’t blow anything’….I was like ‘damn is this it, is this what it feels like when you tear your ACL or you tear your MCL, is this that injury right here?’”

• [5:36] – PG ON FEELING MORE OPTIMISTIC ABOUT HIS KNEE AFTER GETTING BACK TO THE LOCKER ROOM

“It was crazy! I couldn’t walk. I tried to put pressure on it and walk off the court but they had to carry me. But when I got back to the locker room I felt the pain of down so i was like ‘Oh, maybe it wasn’t that bad.’”

• [7:23] – ON WHETHER OR NOT ANYTHING COULD HAVE BEEN DONE DIFFERENTLY TO AVOID THE INJURY AND WHETHER LOU DORT MADE A DIRTY PLAY

Dallas Rutherford: Is there anything you could have done differently now looking back at it do you think you could have avoided it at all?

PG: Yea! If whoever shot the ball made it, Lou Dort does not go for the rebound. Injury avoided!…I don’t think what he did was malicious, he wasn’t trying to hurt me. He was just trying to play hard. He can get wild at times, but he’s a hard worker, plays hard and was trying to get extra possessions. I don’t knock him for competing. It was just a freak accident.

• [13:27] – PG ON NOT BEING CERTAIN WHEN HE’LL RETURN AND THE IMPORTANCE OF STAYING READY

“I don’t know what my timetable is to be honest. I’m gonna do whatever I can do to shorten the process of when I can return. But I don’t know when that date is and the last thing I can do is not be involved with what is going on [with the team] because who knows how long injuries take.”