{"id":573701,"date":"2026-01-31T21:23:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T21:23:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/573701\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T21:23:19","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T21:23:19","slug":"nba-star-paul-george-reacts-to-being-suspended-without-pay-for-25-games-after-violating-leagues-anti-drug-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/573701\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA Star Paul George Reacts to Being Suspended Without Pay for 25 Games After Violating League\u2019s Anti-Drug Program"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEED TO KNOW<\/p>\n

Paul George has been suspended without pay for 25 games for violating the terms of the NBA’s anti-drug program<\/p>\n

The Philadelphia 76ers player said that the suspension was due to a mixup that happened with his medication and that he took \u201cfull responsibility\u201d for it<\/p>\n

His suspension will begin with the 76ers\u2019 scheduled Jan. 31 game against the New Orleans Pelicans<\/p>\n

Philadelphia 76ers player Paul George<\/a> has been suspended by the NBA.<\/p>\n

The NBA<\/a> announced on Saturday, Jan. 31, that George, 35, has been suspended without pay for 25 games for violating the league\u2019s anti-drug program. The NBA did not elaborate on what kind of drug was used.<\/p>\n

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His suspension will begin with the 76ers\u2019 scheduled Jan. 31 game against the New Orleans Pelicans at the Xfinity Mobile Arena in Philadelphia, the NBA said. He likely won\u2019t be eligible to play until March 25, when the 76ers will face off in a home game against the Chicago Bulls, per ESPN<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In response to the NBA\u2019s announcement, George told ESPN that the suspension was due to a mixup that happened with his medication and that he took \u201cfull responsibility\u201d for the outcome.<\/p>\n

\"PaulPaul George during a game on Jan. 27, 2026 <\/p>\n

Mitchell Leff\/Getty <\/p>\n

“Over the past few years, I’ve 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,\u201d he told the outlet.<\/p>\n

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George added, \u201cI take full responsibility for my actions and apologize to the Sixers organization, my teammates and the Philly fans for my poor decision making during this process.\u201d<\/p>\n

He concluded his statement saying that he is \u201cfocused\u201d on using his time off to \u201cmake sure that my mind and body are in the best condition to help the team when I return.”<\/p>\n

Representatives for George and the NBA did not immediately respond to PEOPLE\u2019s request for comment.<\/p>\n

The nine-time all star signed a 4-year, $212 million maximum contract with the Philadelphia 76ers in July 2024 as a free agent after leaving the Los Angeles Clippers after five seasons with the team, according to The New York Times<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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The suspension will cost George roughly $11.7 million of his $51.7 million salary, according to ESPN. This amounts to just over $469,000 for each of the 25 games missed, per the outlet.<\/p>\n

\"PaulPaul George during a game on Jan. 27, 2026 <\/p>\n

Mitchell Leff\/Getty <\/p>\n

Never miss a story \u2014 sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter<\/a> to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer\u200b\u200b, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.<\/p>\n

When George returns to the basketball court, he will likely have only 10 more games to play for the rest of the regular season.<\/p>\n

The 76ers are are in sixth place in the Eastern Conference, with a\u00a0 record of 26-21.<\/p>\n

Read the original article on People<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEED TO KNOW Paul George has been suspended without pay for 25 games for violating the terms of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":573702,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[7,329,135,6,470,526,678,207,8796,203],"class_list":{"0":"post-573701","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-chicago-bulls","10":"tag-los-angeles-clippers","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-new-orleans-pelicans","13":"tag-paul-george","14":"tag-philadelphia","15":"tag-philadelphia-76ers","16":"tag-the-76ers","17":"tag-the-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115991820370922498","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573701","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=573701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/573701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/573702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=573701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=573701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=573701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}