Clippers’ Paul George replacement just might be sharp-shooting Norman Powell

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — It was the fourth quarter of Paul George 's homecoming, and his night was done after scoring 18 points in just under 24 minutes. Not only did George get booed on every touch at Intuit Dome , but his Philadelphia 76ers were getting pasted by a scrappy LA Clippers team, and Norman Powell had outscored George by the time George sat for the final time.

Powell was retreating to the corner in front of a Sixers bench that, in addition to George, included several old friends such as former Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse and former teammates Kyle Lowry , Eric Gordon and Kenyon Martin Jr. James Harden was in a pick-and-roll with Derrick Jones Jr. , a two-man action that featured players who could be considered George replacements in some regard: Harden as the Kawhi Leonard co-star George was for five years, and Jones as the starter who was acquired to take George's vacated spot in the lineup.

But the real George replacement might be Powell. Philadelphia's defense lost track of him as Jones received Harden's pass out of the short roll and encroached upon the paint. Jones was met by center Andre Drummond , while Ricky Council IV left Powell to discourage a lob to Ivica Zubac . Powell got Jones' kickout, and his convincing shot fake sent rookie Jared McCain flying. A rhythm dribble to the side later, and Powell hopped into his sixth made 3 of the game — and let George's bench know about it.

The 110-98 win was the most decisive of the season for the Clippers, and Powell outscored George with a game-high 26 points, his seventh-straight 20-point game. Through eight games, Powell is averaging 25.0 points per game; he has never averaged more than 19.0 in his previous 10 NBA seasons. Powell's start nearly mirror's George's from the 2021-22 season, another year in which the Clippers started 4-4 without Leonard in the lineup (George in fall 2021: 27.9 points, 47.1 percent field goals, 38 percent 3s, 87.8 percent free throws through eight games).

"Norm is balling right now," George said after holding court with the media in the visitors' locker room at Intuit Dome.

Powell is taking on a significant scoring load and doing it while maintaining prime-level efficiency (53 percent on field goals, 48.5 percent on 3s, 86.2 percent on free throws) while playing in an on-ball/off-ball hybrid role George excelled in but also chafed at in different points of his Clippers tenure. While George criticized the team's "identity" and suggested he wanted to play the "right style of basketball" ahead of his free agency, Powell has adjusted to being the right fit for the Clippers for now.

"I've always envisioned myself being in this position and wanting the opportunity," Powell said Wednesday night. "Learning from when I was in Toronto with Kyle and DeMar (DeRozan), learning from Dame (Lillard) and CJ (McCollum), learning from PG and Kawhi. Being around those top guys and just getting game and knowledge from them in the summer. Going up against them, battling, and just wanting that."

When George left the Clippers this summer, the organization was prepared to pivot. The team announced in a statement that it "will miss Paul," but "will field a highly competitive team this season, and moving forward, use our organizational advantages to bring top talent to Intuit Dome."

"I saw it as addition by subtraction," Powell said at Clippers media day about George's exit. "I was excited. I think what I've said in this media day every single year since being here is, I want to be the starting two guard, and the opportunity is in front of me. I prepared myself. I've always seen myself as a starter in this league. I feel like I put the work in. I feel like the numbers show for itself when I am starting and what the output is. So I'm excited to take on that role and the pressures that come with it. The good, bad and ugly."

Powell is 31 years old and at something of a crossroads in his NBA career. The Clippers brought in five new veterans after George left: Jones, Kris Dunn , Nicolas Batum , Kevin Porter Jr. and Mo Bamba . Of the team's top five remaining players, four have signed new contracts since January 2024: Leonard, Harden, Zubac and Terance Mann .

Powell, however, still has two years remaining on the five-year, $90 million deal he signed with the Portland Trail Blazers four months after the Toronto Raptors traded him. Six months after that contract, Powell was traded to the Clippers. In the last two years, Powell has been a Sixth Man of the Year candidate but finished fourth in voting in consecutive seasons.

Now, Powell is on a Clippers team that doesn't have George or Russell Westbrook , while Leonard has yet to play this season. Harden is 35 years old. Many assumed Powell would come off the bench again, but he's started all eight Clippers games so far.

"I want to start every year," Powell said on media day. "That's what I'm going for. That's how I see myself. That's what I was doing before I got traded here. So I'm excited to get back to that and show in training camp that I should be starting and I'm ready to fill whatever void or whatever is needed for the team."

Make no mistake: Powell isn't George, a 6-foot-8 lottery pick and two-way star who has made nine All-Star Games. After four years in college, Powell was the 46th pick of the 2015 NBA Draft. Nurse noted that Powell was a subpar 3-point shooter (31.4 percent) coming out of school, and that Powell has worked hard to become the near-40 percent career 3-point shooter he has been as a pro.

"Being a late-ish second-round pick ... you don't know what's going to happen to those guys," said Nurse, who was a Raptors assistant when Powell was a rookie before becoming the head coach for Toronto's 2018-19 championship season. "And here we are ... and he's obviously succeeded. And he's a great dude."

Powell was always a bucket, going back to his time growing up in San Diego. The shooting emerged as a pro. To play, Powell had to defend at a high level. He did that in Toronto, though Powell's defense was perceived to have slipped while playing small forward in Portland and being in three-guard lineups with players such as Reggie Jackson , John Wall and Luke Kennard with the Clippers.

But Powell was fine defensively last season, as the Clippers allowed only 102.9 points per 100 possessions with Powell on the floor with starters Harden, George, Leonard and Zubac. The same five-man lineup with regular starter Mann instead of Powell allowed 109.5 points per 100 possessions, while the same five-man lineup with Westbrook instead of Powell or Mann allowed 111.9 points per 100 possessions. Powell can still be better defensively, but he is contributing his most steals per game (1.1) in four seasons.

Powell's passing and playmaking have always been his weakest areas. He has never averaged more than 2.1 assists per game, but his current mark of 2.4 would be a career best. Against the Sixers, Powell had six assists, his most ever as a Clipper.

"One thing that (Clippers assistant) Shaun Fein and the coaches that I work with on the team, and then along with (trainer AJ Diggs), told me (is) I'm going to get different looks now every single game," Powell said about his ability to see the floor. "I'm atop of the scouting report, and how to stop, and I see how different teams are guarding me and things like that. So just taking what they're giving me, you know? I'm not getting too sped up, knowing that I'm going to draw a lot of attention, and just hitting the guys where they're at and trying to make the right read."

Powell's leadership with the Clippers has been widely praised. When the team had a preseason game at the new Frontwave Arena in Oceanside, Calif., where the relocated G League affiliate San Diego Clippers will play games this season, Powell was given the microphone to welcome the crowd. He got the mic again Monday night prior to Election Day. New teammates such as Dunn have acknowledged Powell's voice in practices. And Clippers coach Tyronn Lue has leaned on Powell in tough times, such as when the Clippers trailed the San Antonio Spurs by 26 points at the end of one quarter Monday.

"Last game was one of the games where he didn't get a lot of shots in that first half," Lue said before the Sixers game. "But when that second unit came into the game and we're coming back, he was up off the bench. He wasn't worried about shots. And then in the second half, he came through, was able to score the basketball. ... Him in a starting role, he knows at some point he's going to get going. He's going to get the opportunity to shoot the basketball. And that's the growth he had, just not being frustrated, playing through the game."

The Clippers are attempting to tread water in the Western Conference with Leonard sidelined. They won't have back-to-back days off until Dec. 5. It's a grind. But few understand the grind quite like Powell.

"I know media and outlets like to write us off because we don't have PG anymore and losing Russ, so it's like we're 12th or something, which is crazy to me," Powell said on media day. "I think that's what happens, you know? You lose a guy like PG, and then everything goes up in flames. But I've been on a team where we lose a superstar guy coming off a championship and we're still top five in the East after that (the 2020 Raptors).

"I know the league is 'What have you done for me lately,' so people forget other aspects of guys' games because of what they see in front of them. But I think other guys will be able to expand and show that they have more to their game than what's being put out, so I'm really excited to get on the floor."

(Photo of Norman Powell: Harry How / )