{"id":864043,"date":"2026-09-28T22:58:12","date_gmt":"2026-09-28T22:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/864043\/"},"modified":"2026-09-28T22:58:12","modified_gmt":"2026-09-28T22:58:12","slug":"paul-george-once-despised-the-celtics-his-tune-has-changed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/864043\/","title":{"rendered":"Paul George once despised the Celtics. His tune has changed."},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tBoston Celtics\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t“Not to discredit anywhere that I’ve been, but since I’ve been here it’s been nothing but happiness and greatness.”<\/p>\n

\"\"
\n\tPaul George Meleck Eldahshoury for The Boston Globe\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\"\"\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIt\u2019s a new era for Jayson Tatum and the Celtics, plus other takeaways from Media Day\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tJames Hagens and other Bruins rookies are ready to make their mark this season\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

Paul George<\/a> grew up in Palmdale, California, which is about an hour north of Los Angeles. So, naturally, he grew up with a bit of dislike for the Celtics. <\/p>\n

George never thought he\u2019d play for the franchise, but the Jaylen Brown trade landed him in Boston<\/a>. He said the Celtics\u2019 green colors have been growing on him as he\u2019s been wearing it.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously growing up a Kobe Bryant fan, and you know, from that being a Lakers fan and Clippers fan, I think as a kid you kind of despised green,\u201d George told reporters on Monday. \u201cBut, in terms of when you think of the most storied franchises \u2014not just in basketball but in sports in general \u2014 the Boston Celtics are the cream of the crop.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo have this opportunity is amazing. Obviously since I\u2019ve been here it\u2019s one of those things where I wish that I could have been here a lot sooner. Not to discredit anywhere that I\u2019ve been, but since I\u2019ve been here it\u2019s been nothing but happiness and greatness. There\u2019s just a great energy in this building, this facility.\u201d <\/p>\n

George, 36, appears to be having fun as he enters his 17th NBA season. He crashed the end of Jayson Tatum\u2019s press conference while Tatum happened to be talking about him. He smiled as he took his seat. Many of his teammates, including Tatum, grew up watching his game.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you get older in this league, it\u2019s kind of a weird cycle where you come in as a young guy and you throw on this shield as you go up against your idols and people that you look up to,\u201d George said. \u201cYou carry this competitive spirit and then you get older and you become the veteran of the older guy. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe more and more guys who have appreciated what I\u2019ve done in my career and taken a liking to my game, the more I\u2019ve leaned into that \u2014 helping them become better versions of what I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once a franchise player, George comes to the Celtics having missed at least half of the regular-season games in each of the past two seasons. He is embracing his role as a veteran who can mentor younger players, but he also has to prove that he can stay healthy and continue to play at a high level. <\/p>\n

Critics have said that he\u2019s washed up, a shell of the player the nine-time All-Star used to be. It\u2019s nothing that George hasn\u2019t heard before. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s funny, but it\u2019s frustrating,\u201d George said of his detractors. \u201cJust because, it\u2019s like, I\u2019m still capable of doing those things and I feel like my body is back healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom a personal standpoint, it\u2019s not about going out and trying to drop 30 every night. I think it\u2019s moreso about being available, being efficient, being consistent \u2014 and I think for myself just proving that when healthy I am able to do what I\u2019ve done in my career.\u201d<\/p>\n

George said something Monday that he wasn\u2019t sure he\u2019d ever say: He\u2019s looking forward to being a Celtic.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m happy to be in green,\u201d George said. \u201cI think this couldn\u2019t have happened for me where I was at in my career and now everything is lining up now \u2014 I think this will be a really good chapter in my career.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\"Profile\t<\/p>\n

\t\tKhari A. Thompson<\/a>Sports Reporter\t<\/p>\n

Khari Thompson covers professional sports for Boston.com. Before joining the team in 2022, Khari covered college football for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGet the latest Boston sports news<\/p>\n

Receive updates on your favorite Boston teams, straight from our newsroom to your inbox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Boston Celtics “Not to discredit anywhere that I’ve been, but since I’ve been here it’s been nothing but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":864044,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-864043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864043","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=864043"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/864043\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/864044"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=864043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=864043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=864043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}