{"id":573670,"date":"2026-01-31T21:05:24","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T21:05:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/573670\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T21:05:24","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T21:05:24","slug":"former-pacers-star-handed-long-nba-suspension-what-we-know","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/573670\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Pacers star handed long NBA suspension. What we know"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/basketball\/nba\/teams\/philadelphia-76ers\/20\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Philadelphia 76ers;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Philadelphia 76ers<\/a> forward <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/basketball\/nba\/players\/paul-george\/469218\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Paul George;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Paul George<\/a> has been suspended for 25 games for violating the NBA&#8217;s anti-drug program, a league release said.<\/p>\n<p>George&#8217;s suspension begins with Saturday night&#8217;s game against the <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/basketball\/nba\/teams\/new-orleans-pelicans\/3\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:New Orleans Pelicans;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">New Orleans Pelicans<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>The release did not expand on reason for the suspension.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement to ESPN, George said: \u201cOver the past few years, I\u2019ve discussed the importance of mental health, and in the course of recently seeking treatment for an issue of my own, I made the mistake of taking an improper medication. I take full responsibility for my actions and apologize to the <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/basketball\/nba\/teams\/philadelphia-76ers\/20\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Sixers;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Sixers<\/a> organization, my teammates and the Philly fans for my poor decision making during this process.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am focused on using this time to make sure that my mind and body are in the best condition to help the team when I return.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"\">Getting minutes: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.indystar.com\/story\/sports\/nba\/pacers\/2026\/01\/30\/pacers-johnny-furphy-growing-as-defender-in-starting-lineup\/88436965007\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Furphy settling into starting role with growth on defense;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \"> Furphy settling into starting role with growth on defense<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>George, 35, started his career with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.indystar.com\/sports\/pacers\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Indiana Pacers;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Indiana Pacers<\/a>, playing seven seasons after being selected 10th overall in the 2010 NBA Draft. He has also played for the <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/basketball\/nba\/teams\/oklahoma-city-thunder\/25\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Oklahoma City Thunder;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/basketball\/nba\/teams\/los-angeles-clippers\/12\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Los Angeles Clippers;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Los Angeles Clippers<\/a>. This is his second season with the Sixers.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.indystar.com\/staff\/8162100002\/dustin-dopirak\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Dustin Dopirak;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Dustin Dopirak<\/a> covers the Pacers all season. Get more coverage on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@indianapolisstar\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:IndyStarTV;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">IndyStarTV<\/a> and with the <a href=\"https:\/\/profile.indystar.com\/newsletters\/manage\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:Pacers Insider newsletter;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">Pacers Insider newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.indystar.com\/story\/sports\/nba\/pacers\/2026\/01\/31\/nba-news-paul-george-suspended-25-games-drug-program-violation-philadelphia-76ers-former-pacers-star\/88450149007\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:NBA news: Paul George suspended 25 games for violating drug program;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" class=\"link \">NBA news: Paul George suspended 25 games for violating drug program<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Philadelphia 76ers forward Paul George has been suspended for 25 games for violating the NBA&#8217;s anti-drug program, a&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":573671,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3774],"tags":[7,113,126,3866,135,6,470,179,114,526,207],"class_list":{"0":"post-573670","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-indiana-pacers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-indiana","10":"tag-indiana-pacers","11":"tag-indianapacers","12":"tag-los-angeles-clippers","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-new-orleans-pelicans","15":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","16":"tag-pacers","17":"tag-paul-george","18":"tag-philadelphia-76ers"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115991748539775343","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573670","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=573670"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573670\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/573671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=573670"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=573670"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=573670"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}