Paul George made no efforts Tuesday to downplay the impact of his 25-game suspension.<\/p>\n
\u201cI give my apologies to the city of Philadelphia, my family, my teammates, the organization, everybody that was affected through this suspension,\u201d George said Tuesday to start a press conference at the Sixers\u2019 training complex in Camden, New Jersey. \u201cObviously, I own up to that as a leader of this group. \u2026 To let people down hurt more than anything, going through this process.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cShout out to the guys for having my back and supporting me through this time to where now things are on the positive side. Looking forward to tomorrow, being available and giving everything I\u2019ve got.\u201d<\/p>\n
George will play Wednesday night vs. the Bulls for the first time since Jan. 29. The Sixers went 13-12 in his absence and now sit at 39-33.<\/p>\n
In the immediate aftermath of his suspension, George told ESPN\u2019s Shams Charania<\/a> that he received the suspension for \u201ctaking an improper medication.\u201d He declined to detail anything further than that Tuesday.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI won\u2019t get into specifics on what it was,\u201d George said. \u201cThat\u2019s more on the personal side.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The 35-year-old forward indicated that physical frustrations impacted his mental health and led him to make a \u201cpoorly timed decision.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cObviously, being a pro athlete takes a toll on you,\u201d he said. \u201cMy body wasn\u2019t where I wanted it to be and the expectation to perform \u2026 obviously, I\u2019m going to have an expectation for myself. That\u2019s what led to the poor decision at the time. Again, I\u2019ve said it throughout my career dealing with mental health: I\u2019m no superhero. I\u2019m a human and I made a mistake in the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n Physically, there have been many items of note over George\u2019s two seasons as a Sixer.<\/p>\n He missed exactly half of the Sixers\u2019 82 games last season. George dealt with several nagging injuries<\/a>, including to his left knee, left pinky and left adductor muscle. As the Sixers\u2019 season slid off the rails, George confirmed last February that he\u2019d been taking injections to play through pain.<\/a><\/p>\n