Paul George has been a top five player in the NBA this season, and it hasn’t been close at all.
Entering this past Tuesday’s game for the LA Clippers, PG was averaging 26.4 points per game, 7.7 rebounds per game, 5.2 assists per game, and 1.9 steals per game. Entering Tuesday’s game, PG was also listed with the eighth-best odds to win the NBA’s MVP at +3000. That means that he dropped from tied for seventh with +2500 odds in the week prior.
How that makes any sense is beyond me. In the week in between there, he put up 26.3 points per contest, 6.3 rebounds per contest, 5.5 assists per contest, and a steal per contest. Sure, those are slightly worse numbers than what he had, but he doesn’t deserve to drop in the MVP race at all.
Paul George is still doing everything for the LA Clippers.
Paul George has been the No. 1 option for the LA Clippers this year, and had led them to a top four seed when those odds were released. At 10-7, PG had really proved that he can be just as productive as ever as the top threat for a team.
PG’s answered those questions, yet somehow people have decided that he’s not even one of the top seven most valuable players in basketball.
The thing is, PG has arguably never been this good in his entire career. The only year he’s had that’s comparable to the one he’s having right now is 2018-2019, where he put up 28 points, 8.2 rebounds, 4.1 assists, and 2.2 steals per game. He didn’t shoot as well then as he is now, however, and had another star in Russell Westbrook at his side.
Without Kawhi Leonard this year, all opposing defenses know that PG is the one they need to keep their eyes on at all times, and they still can’t stop him. He was shooting 43.8% from the field in that 2018-2019 season as opposed to shooting 44.1% this year. He was shooting 83.9% from the stripe, and George is shooting 90.1% from the line this year.
It’s shocking to see people claiming there are eight players more valuable than the one that PG has been this year, but I guess the PG13 hate runs deeper than I thought.