Paul George displayed his scoring touch in his preseason debut for the Philadelphia 76ers last Friday night.
George made 8-for-15 and scored a 76ers-high 23 points in a 121-11 defeat to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
He logged 26 minutes, hit four 3-pointers and included six rebounds and two assists.
His exhibition debut features new faces in new positions during this year’s preseason, including Karl-Anthony Towns with the Knicks, Chris Paul in the Spurs, DeMar DeRozan in Kings, and Klay Thompson in Mavericks jersey.
The 76ers signed George to a four-year, $212 million deal as a free agent this summer, they are his fourth team, after he spent seven years with the Indianapolis Colts, two with Oklahoma City Thunder and last five with the Los Angeles Clippers. He won the All-Star nine times, is a six-time All-NBA selection and averages 20.8 points over his first 14 NBA seasons.
The match in Iowa was a homecoming for Philadelphia coach Nick Nurse. Nurse is an Iowa native, who coached Minnesota’s G League team when it was Iowa. He is the former head coach at NAIA member Grand View University situated in Des Moines. Nurse was the youngest college coach in the USA when he started the job at 23.