Paul George won’t be playing his first game as a member of the Boston Celtics for another two months, yet he’s already seemingly on thin ice with the fanbase. It makes sense. George joined the Cs as part of the shocking trade that sent Jaylen Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers last month.
Earning the love of the Garden faithful was always going to be an uphill battle.
We may be off to a less than ideal start... or we would've been if the latest viral content was organic.
George spent part of his offseason touring Asia and taking part in different promotional events, including the “Star Street 1v1 Battle.” The longtime NBA vet took on Chinese streetball legend Bai Jing in a game to 101 points.
The former All-NBA forward took care of business, but not without giving up 60 points to Jing.
This all probably would’ve flown under the radar unnoticed if George’s former Los Angeles Clippers teammate didn’t go viral reacting to a clip of the game, which definitely doesn’t seem like it’s meant to be part of some promotional content.
Leonard was recorded watching highlights on his phone and questioning how George could allow that many points.
“What is this? This guy’s over here playing pros and he scored 60 points on Paul George?” he questioned. “Man, there’s no way he scores 10 points on me. I’ll lock this dude up. He looks trash.”
Kawhi Leonard is set to take part in the Jimeng 116 100‑point cha🗣 pic.twitter.com/qzscg1Eajp
— kawhi222 (@kawhi2223) August 10, 2026
Paul George is still good at defense
Now, this is all very professional-wrestling pilled, where Leonard will almost certainly be facing off against Bai Jing in his own game to 100. Make note of it. Clips of Kawhi out there playing streetball in China have to be coming soon.
Nonetheless, people are going to see the caption of this clip where the 2019 NBA Finals MVP is “mocking” the Celtics forward for letting a streetballer score 60 on him, and think this is all reason to be concerned about George’s first season in Boston.
This was originally going to be a tongue and cheek piece making fun of George in that same light, but having seen the video and its obvious promotional context, the idea doesn’t hit the same.
I suppose George giving up 60 in the streetball game isn't great, but it's tough to imagine he was going at 100% in a fun setting like that.
Instead, let this be a reminder to first, be safe on the internet and actually watch for context with these things, and second, that Paul George is still a good defender. His showing with the Sixers in their first-round series win over Boston this past spring was impressive. He did a great job making things difficult on both Brown and Jayson Tatum.
Not to mention that he’s been a plus defender literally every season he’s been in the NBA -- even when he’s had “down” years. Hopefully, that trend continues in Boston and he fits well with the Celtics.
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