The Orlando bubble was a move to continue the NBA safely during the coronavirus pandemic. It was a successful move, with zero cases recorded and a lot of intense basketball action. But for some players like Clippers’ Paul George, it wasn’t the best experience.

In the bubble, George had revealed that he was going through mental health issues. Players were forced to stay away from their families for months, and this took a toll on him. He spoke about this once again, during a recent interview with LA Times and said:

“You FaceTiming your family, you FaceTiming your kids. At some point you start to break, and it’s like, man, what am I doing here?” George said. “Like, this ain’t it right here. I understand we’re trying to win the championship and that’s the focus, but everything gotta line up for that to happen. My hat’s off to the Lakers for being able to accomplish that, but myself, I struggled with it.”

Paul George says star players were under a lot of pressure in the bubble

Later, George added, “I didn’t have that fire that I usually have going into matchups. Going into the games I knew I wanted to destroy [opponents], but it was just because of the environment, like, this is what you want right here. It wasn’t like playoff times at all. It didn’t feel like playoff time at all. And that’s why you had, like, role players having the best games of their lives. There was no pressure, and for star players, it was all of the pressure.”

George was criticized a lot for his bubble performances. After a poor outing against the Mavericks, he almost redeemed himself against the Nuggets. But then in Game 7, he shot 2/11 from three, including that infamous corner three-pointer attempt that hit the backboard.

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Those performances just increased the expectations and responsibilities from him for the upcoming season. Those expectations are now even higher after the Clippers gave him a massive extension – a four-year $190 million deal. George is back in his normal ‘non-bubble’ environment now so fans will hope he can live up to what he has promised them and not give any more excuses.