{"id":102126,"date":"2026-02-01T07:27:13","date_gmt":"2026-02-01T07:27:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/102126\/"},"modified":"2026-02-01T07:27:13","modified_gmt":"2026-02-01T07:27:13","slug":"paul-george-suspended-25-games-for-violating-nbas-drug-policy-in-major-76ers-blow","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/102126\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul George suspended 25 games for violating NBA&#8217;s drug policy in major 76ers blow"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Paul George is in hot water.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The 76ers star was suspended 25 games for violating the NBA\u2019s anti-drug policy, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/ShamsCharania\/status\/2017640501487276508?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">ESPN\u2019s Shams Charania<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>George blamed the positive test on an \u201cimproper medication.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img style=\"aspect-ratio:1.49926794;display:block\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-modal-image=\"38347063\" width=\"885\" height=\"590\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/20260114_bsp_sq4_0121.jpg\" alt=\"Georges Niang in a Philadelphia 76ers uniform dribbling a basketball.\" class=\"wp-image-38347063\"  \/>Philadelphia 76ers forward Paul George (8) drives against the Cleveland Cavaliers during the second quarter at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Bill Streicher-Imagn Images<\/p>\n<p>\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,\u201d George said in a statement, per Charania. \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.<\/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>The oft-injured George has appeared in 27 games this season, averaging 16 points in 30.5 minutes per contest.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The nine-time All-Star missed the Sixers\u2019 first 12 games of the season after <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/07\/15\/sports\/76ers-paul-george-gets-knee-surgery-after-offseason-injury\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">undergoing arthroscopic surgery<\/a> on his left knee over the summer.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Last season, his first in Philadelphia after signing a four-year, $212 million deal with the franchise two summers ago, George played in just 41 games as he dealt with various injuries.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The suspension will cost him about $11.7 million of his $51.6 million salary this season.<\/p>\n<p>Since the 2019-20 season, when he joined forces with Kawhi Leonard on the Clippers in Los Angeles, George has played in more than 56 games in a season just once.<\/p>\n<p>The suspension is a major blow for the 76ers, who are currently the sixth seed in the Eastern Conference at 26-21.<\/p>\n<p>George will begin serving the suspension on Saturday night when the 76ers host the Pelicans and will be eligible to return in late March.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paul George is in hot water.\u00a0 The 76ers star was suspended 25 games for violating the NBA\u2019s anti-drug&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":102127,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[4794,15352,69,1002,71,70,726],"class_list":["post-102126","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-nba","tag-paul-george","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-76ers","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102126","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=102126"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/102126\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/102127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=102126"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=102126"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=102126"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}