Each NBA team’s most devastating injury in franchise history
Most devastating injury in Indiana Pacers history: Paul George
By 2014, Indiana Pacers swingman Paul George had evolved from a lanky, pesky 3-and-D player to one of the best two-way wings in the NBA.
If you don’t believe me, and why wouldn’t you, take a look at his numbers on 2013-14: 21.7 PPG, 6.8 RPG, 3.5 APG, a .424/.364/.864 shooting line, and .178 WS/48.
Oh, and he did this for an Indiana team that won 56 games, led the league in defensive rating and reached the Eastern Conference Finals. Yep, things were looking good for George and the Pacers.
That is until the summer of 2014. During a USA Basketball scrimmage in preparation for that year’s FIBA World Cup in Spain, George suffered one of the most gruesome looking injuries anyone had ever seen. I’ll leave the footage of the injury here if you have a high tolerance for stuff like this, but I caution that it is graphic.
If you didn’t click on the link, here’s what happened: George chased down James Harden to try to cut off Harden’s breakaway layup attempt. As he came down after attempting to block his teammate’s shot, his foot got caught in the stanchion that holds the rim up.
George suffered a compound fracture of both bones in his right leg. The injury obviously kept him out of the World Cup and forced him to miss all but six games of the 2014-15 NBA season.
Naturally, losing their best player pretty much torpedoed the Pacers’ title contention hopes. They were still one of the better defenses in the association — they ranked seventh in points allowed per 100 possessions in 2014-15 — but they struggled to generate consistent offense in a nightly basis. It led to Indiana finishing with a 38-44 record and missing the playoffs for the first time in five seasons.
George eventually returned to his usual All-Star self for the next few seasons before the Pacers traded him to the Oklahoma City Thunder in a swap that has worked out for both franchises. Indiana received Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis in the deal with the Thunder.