Keyonte George likes to think of himself as something of a basketball addict.

A budding star in the midst of a career-year, Utah’s point guard will throw on a game and watch other pros go about their craft in his spare time. Any detail he can glean, he’ll add to his repertoire.

But facing his first extended time off the floor this month, he found himself taking notes from a different kind of professional.

The third-year player started binging “Scandal” in his downtime in February.

“Shout out Olivia Pope,” George said.

After spraining both ankles and being forced to miss nine games, the Netflix show was his preferred reprieve from hoops. Instead, he threw himself into the world of Washington politics and Pope’s fictitious law firm.

“I just didn’t know how to feel on game days. I didn’t know what to do with myself. Guys running out, I’m just staying in the back,” George said. “For me, just tried to find some stuff that I enjoyed away from the game. I watch so much basketball. So I tried to tone it down and try to find something I like to watch.”

George sprained his left ankle before the All-Star break, sidelining him for three games earlier in the month. He came back for 13 minutes against the Orlando Magic before going down with a right ankle sprain.

He made his return against New Orleans on Saturday after six more games away, scoring 17 points. He followed that with a 36-point performance in the Jazz’s 128-125 loss to Denver on Monday.

“This is the first time I’ve missed a long period of time like that,” George said. “You just try to stay patient through it all, trusting the plan that the staff and training staff, everybody, is putting together. Just trusting that.”

George is in the running for the league’s Most Improved Player award, alongside Atlanta’s Jalen Johnson, Detroit’s Jalen Duren and Portland’s Deni Avdija. He is averaging nearly 24 points per game and over six assists.

But George has only logged 48 games this year, 17 away from the 65-game threshold to be eligible for those awards. Utah has 22 games remaining.

“I mean, to be honest with you, just a little frustration [to be out],” he said. “It’s hard being on the sideline for so long.”

Jazz coach Will Hardy is aware of George’s 65-game requirement for awards, but still wants to be cautious with his injury.

“I would like to get Keyonte 65. I’m not ever trying to take away someone’s ability to have individual success,” Hardy said. “But I think Keyonte also understands that we’re going to approach it a game at a time, and we’re going to try to make sure that he’s healthy. That’s always going to be our approach. We’re going to choose the health of our organization, the health of our players, over chasing awards.”

But at least George’s new TV thriller helped ease the pain.

“Scandal,” he said, laughing about how he got through the past month. “Just Scandal.”