“Hope he gets the help” - Philadelphia 76ers star Paul George’s mental health claims receive stark criticism from veteran NFL legend

Paul George faced a suspension for 25 games in the current 2025-2026 NBA season. The Philadelphia 76ers star was punished for violating the league’s anti-drug policy. While the athlete has issued statements defending his act, not everyone is accepting the excuse. George’s excuse was that he was using the substance to aid his mental health. The statement was starkly criticized by the members of the NBA community and athletes across other sports as well. NFL legend Michael Irvin was the latest to mock George’s suspension. Irvin even wished for the NBA athlete to receive the help he needed.

Irvin made the statement in the recent episode of the It Is What It Is podcast. Irvin referred to his own incident in the 1990s when the athlete was caught with an illegal substance. The NFL legend wished that he had used the same excuse as George did now. It might have reduced his sentence.

Michael Irvin refers to personal life incident from 1990s while slamming Paul George’s mental health claims

In 1996, the then-NFL star Michael Irvin and his teammate Alfredo Roberts were busted at a Texas hotel. The duo was found in possession of illegal substances and was accompanied by two other women. Even though initially, he was supposed to face 20 years in prison, in the end, he faced four years of deferred probation. It was because he pleaded no contest to the charges imposed on him. During the It Is What It Is podcast episode, Irvin referred to this life incident and mocked the NBA athlete Paul George.


Irvin stated, “When the cops hit that door at that hotel room and busted like, ‘Hands up! What are you doing here?’ I should have said, ‘I got some mental health issues. You all gotta leave now, because I have got some mental health issues.’” He mocked George’s excuse and everyone present at the podcast broke into laughter. Irvin further added, “When you put it up under mental health, what do you say to it, when somebody’s saying they’re doing it for mental health? That’s just such a broad scope of things. When you put it under mental health, you drew that cover that nobody can really say anything about.” Towards the end, the former NFL star added, “I hope he gets the help he needs.”

Shaquille O’Neal slams Paul George’s mental health claims

No one seems to be willing to accept Paul George’s mental health claims. The Philadelphia 76ers star was suspended for 25 games for violating the league’s Anti-Drug policies. While Paul tried to defend his act, stating mental health issues, Shaquille O’Neal was one of the first individuals to criticize these claims. Shaquille stated, “I just want to say that they give us a booklet on what to do and what not to do… They also give you, inside the booklet, how long it takes you to get rid of something. So, I don’t want to elaborate on what he was doing, but stuff like this should not happen.” Kenny Smith partially agreed to Shaquille’s statement while raising certain doubts on the NBA’s decision.


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