Paul George shows All-Star form, scores 23 in Sixers debut

DES MOINES, Iowa —  Paul George’s scoring touch was on display in his preseason debut with the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday night.

George made 8 of 15 shots and scored a team-high 23 points in a 121-111 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves.

George logged 26 minutes, hit four 3-pointers and added six rebounds and two assists.

His exhibition debut continued a stretch of new faces in new places during this preseason, including  Karl-Anthony Towns in New York, Chris Paul in San Antonio, DeMar DeRozan in Sacramento and Klay Thompson in Dallas.

The 76ers, who signed George to a four-year, $212 million contract as a free agent this summer, are his fourth team, after seven years with Indiana, two with Oklahoma City and the past five as part of the  LA Clippers. He’s a nine-time All-Star and six-time All-NBA selection and has averaged 20.8 points over his first 14 NBA seasons.

The game in Iowa was a homecoming for 76ers coach Nick Nurse. An Iowa native, he coached Minnesota’s G League team when it was in Iowa and is the previous head coach at NAIA member Grand View University, located in Des Moines. Nurse was the youngest college coach in the country when he took that job at 23.

“It doesn’t come around very often that you get to bring an NBA team back to your old stomping grounds like this,” Nurse said, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. “It’s nice that the connection between the Timberwolves and Iowa Wolves and [Minnesota coach Chris Finch] needed a game. And we were actually looking for a couple. So it fit pretty good. I’m excited to be here.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.