What happened to Paul George’s shot? The Sixers are working on it.

The 76ers expected a better version of Paul George at this point in the season.

They believed the nine-time All-Star would form a feared trio alongside Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. But for the most part, this season has been an offensive struggle for George.

At first, they thought it was the left knee bones bruises suffered after twice hyperextending the knee. Or maybe he just had to get acclimated to playing alongside Embiid.

But Embiid missed Monday’s 109-99 setback to the Phoenix Suns, and George, once again, missed a lot of shots.

» READ MORE: Sixers lose 109-99 to Phoenix Suns despite Kelly Oubre Jr.’s best efforts

The 6-foot-8 swingman scored 13 points while making just 5 of 18 shots (including 3 of 9 three-pointers). In 24 games, he’s averaging 16.2 points, which is well below his career average of 20.7. George also is shooting just 41.4% from the field, including 33.5% on three-pointers, which are the second lowest percentages of his 15-year career.

“Yeah, we talked a little bit, always asking, ‘What can we do to help you?’” coach Nick Nurse said of George. “‘What can we do to get you going? Do you think the looks are good enough? [Are] there any other actions we can try to do?’

“We’ve had some of those conversations as well. And he just kind of says, ‘No, we’re all right.’ But I’m going to look at these tonight for sure and sit down with him tomorrow and see what we can figure out.”

The Sixers (14-20) tried to post up George a couple of times Monday night to get him easy baskets. They also ran some pin downs, among other things, to try to unlock him.

“Yeah, we were having those conversations about how to get looks, quality looks,” George said of his conversations with Nurse. “And I got to read what’s going on out there. I think tonight [the Suns] did a great job of loading up. It seemed all my drives, all my catch-and-shoot situations, like it was highly loaded and playing in a crowd. I got to do a better job of kind letting the game come to me.”

» READ MORE: Sixers takeaways: Kelly Oubre Jr. underused, Paul George plays isolation ball

George continued by saying that he has to mentally get going and be aggressive.

“But some of the shots I’m taking are probably not the best looks within the offense,” he said, “and that resulted in me pressing a little bit, so just let the game come to me.”

Instead of doing that against Phoenix, he resorted to playing iso-ball. His overdribbling and hoisting bad shot attempts disrupted the Sixers’ rhythm.

So how does he intend to get going on the offensive end?

“Just keep shooting,” George said. “I think I’ll just try to find a rhythm here. I thought I was getting into a good rhythm on the road. Just find the rhythm here, that’s it. Once I find the rhythm here, kind of settle myself, and have an expectation of where I need to play once I get that rhythm.”

He acknowledged that his left knee is still bothering him. However, he wouldn’t use it as an excuse for his poor shooting. George said he’s trying to work on it, and noted that if he’s on the floor, he’s healthy enough to play.

And as long as he plays, Maxey said he will continue to keep George part of the game plan.

“I’m just trying to get him open and run stuff for him and make sure he’s involved,” Maxey said. “Even early in the game, I’m sacrificing myself, trying to get downhill to score so I can try to get him going, even with Joel playing, get him going too. … I am always going to try to get those guys shots, especially Paul.”

» READ MORE: Sixers center Joel Embiid is starting to return to form, with five straight 25-point outings

While his shots aren’t falling, George is fourth in the league in steals with 1.8 per game. He’s also second on the team in assists at 4.6 and fourth in rebounds at 5.6.

“From a shooting standpoint, I think that [his shots] weren’t all super open tonight,” Nurse said. “But a lot of them were, and a lot of ones that, like you said, career-wise, he’s going to normally take. I again say his presence out there is really good. His defense is really good. His rebounding is really good. There’s a lot of things to like. And I think the shooting will get to his career numbers as we go.”

Maxey agreed with Nurse and noted that George is getting good looks.

“He’s had some good games,” Maxey said. “He had some breakout games, but he does so many other things. He guards. He rebounds. He’s in the gaps. He talks. So I think the shooting will come.”