Former Kobe Bryant teammate champions Paul George as Lakers' missing piece for silverware

Kobe Bryant's former teammate at the LA Lakers, Nick Young, championed Paul George as the missing piece that the Lakers need to clinch another title. Young took to X (formerly Twitter), to briefly express his opinion.

"Pg to the Lakers championship," Young tweeted.

This came after Paul George's current team, the LA Clippers, fell to the Dallas Mavericks 101-90 on Friday to go down 1-2 in the first-round playoff series. George put up an underwhelming performance in the game, registering seven points, five rebounds, and five assists in the losing effort.

Moreover, the Lakers are on the brink of being swept by the Denver Nuggets for the second consecutive time in the playoffs. The Lakers fell to the reigning NBA champions 112-105 on Thursday to go down 0-3 in the ongoing first-round series. The Nuggets previously swept them in the 2023 Western Conference Finals and have also lost 11 straight games to Denver since the end of 2022.

With both parties seemingly struggling, Paul George's move to the LA Lakers may just give them the spark to ignite a strong championship run.

"Took me out of my game": Paul George addresses his foul trouble in Game 3 against Mavericks

Paul George got dealt five personal fouls in Game 3 against the Mavericks and 14 total personal fouls in the three games of the series yet. George's foul trouble may have a significant role in the veteran not being able to find his rhythm in the ongoing series.

During the post-game interview, the nine-time All-Star addressed his foul trouble and said that it was throwing him off his game.

“It’s been the past three games, I don’t know what it is. I thought this was playoff basketball. A couple of them have just been touch fouls. And I don’t know,” George said.

“Defense can be physical, they can be aggressive on me. Other side of it, I pick up quick, cheap ones. And, you know, it’s frustrating. But I got to be better — I got to be better,” George continued.

“I felt good, rhythm-wise, to start the game off, and then pick up those, get sent to the bench, and then it just felt like the whole game, I couldn’t find how to be aggressive and create contact and balance all of that out while trying to stay within the offense and move the ball and play off the ball, play aggressive downhill. It was just a lot I was thinking about. Took me out of my game. I got to be better. It’s frustrating, though.”

Paul George and the LA Clippers will look to bounce back in the series when they face the Mavericks next on Sunday in Dallas for Game 4.