Paul George Credit: Podcast P

Paul George didn’t mince words this week when he took aim at his own team — the Philadelphia 76ers.

He bluntly said they’ve shown “no signs of a team that will compete.”

His pointed criticism of the 76ers’ lack of competitive spirit came just days before George made a personal move that seemed to align with his harsh assessment.

George didn’t just talk the talk; he put his money where his mouth was, revealing that he would be stepping away from Podcast P indefinitely. This move came less than a year after he launched the podcast. And after signing a four-year, max contract with the Sixers last offseason, George’s on-court performance has taken a sharp dive, with production slipping to its lowest point in over a decade.

Though the timing is hard to ignore, it’s unlikely that the podcast is the primary cause of his struggles.

Some, like Ryen Russillo, have wondered aloud whether Podcast P might be a distraction while the 76ers watch their season unravel right before their very eyes. Based on George’s play, The Ringer host said he’d be embarrassed, questioning why he’s still doing podcasts in one of the darker stretches of his career.

Sure, it’s entirely possible that the podcast, the prep and everything else that comes with it have played a minor role in George’s —and the 76ers’ — undoing. Still, there’s probably a deeper, underlying issue that’s a bit more pertinent than podcasting. Has anyone even remotely considered that the 34-year-old George might just be washed?

Again, the timing of George’s hiatus, alongside his on-court decline, strongly suggests that this decision was more about regaining focus and rediscovering his game. And if the podcast was really the root cause, though, the numbers don’t quite add up.

And the numbers might surprise you.

This is the kind of data and research that everyone in sports media — we at Awful Announcing included — lives for.

According to Steph Noh, a senior NBA writer for The Sporting News, George has actually performed better in games immediately following the release of a Podcast P episode.

Over those games, George has averaged 17.1 points, 4.6 rebounds and 4.8 assists while shooting 43.6% from the field and 42.9% from three. Contrast that with his numbers on non-podcast release days: 16 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 4.0 assists, shooting 43% from the field but just 31.9% from beyond the arc.

So, what does this mean? Well, it suggests that if the podcast were truly a distraction, we’d likely see a dip in his performance after every release. But the stats seem to suggest otherwise. It’s more likely that there are other factors in play — maybe even a confounding variable or two — but it does make for some fun food for thought.

Still, what if George’s decision to step back from the podcast was his way of trying to hit the reset button or even — dare we say — setting himself and the Sixers up for the ultimate tank job?

If anything, this math lesson is just the modern athlete’s version of exemplifying that correlation doesn’t always equal causation. Balancing a media career while still playing has its challenges, but the idea that “new media” is infiltrating the court isn’t backed up by any stats. It’s just a convenient excuse when things go wrong — just ask Micah Parsons.

Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart might have something to say, too.

Mookie Betts does a similar show for Bleacher Report, like Parsons, On Base with Mookie Betts. He’s not dropping episodes like candy, only totaling 33 episodes at the writing of this article, but that didn’t seem like a distraction for the starting shortstop of a World Series-wining team, who won roughshod over the National League before downing the New York Yankees in five games.

George isn’t Betts, nor is he Parsons.

But it’s not so much a problem until it becomes one. Whether you want to pay mind to this fun data set and what it proves or doesn’t prove, it just goes to show that even when you consider the other confounding variables, the convenient excuses don’t paint the full picture.

About Sam Neumann

Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.