When the Oklahoma City Thunder traded Paul George in the middle of the night, just about everyone thought Sam Presti had been fleeced. To land Kawhi Leonard and fulfill his demand for a co-star, the Los Angeles Clippers gave up Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari, five first-round picks, and the right to swap two others.
The consensus at the time was that Presti just handed the Clippers a dynasty.
Instead, he may have pulled off one of the greatest heists in modern NBA history.
It’s not that George was a disaster in Los Angeles. He was mostly really good. But the Clippers never made it past the Western Conference Finals with him. They never even reached the Finals. Meanwhile, six years later, SGA has run roughshoud over the West, MVP trophy in hand, looking every bit like a top-five player in the league.
Yes, it’s easy to dunk on the Clippers now with the benefit of hindsight. But it’s worth revisiting just how certain those in sports media were that OKC got taken to the cleaners, while L.A. had just built a superteam.
“And listen, I understand the trade haul is unprecedented, but you cannot look at it that the Clippers gave up that for Paul George,” Nick Wright said. “They gave up that for Paul George and Kawhi Leonard. You got the reigning Finals MVP and maybe the next best two-way wing in the league. A top-five player and now also a top-15 player. That’s the price of that. Both on longterm deals.”
“And before you know it, the Clippers got both of their guys for the future,” said Jalen Rose. “Brilliant move(s) by Uncle Dennis. I want to see if I can be a part of the family.”
“He was playing chess; everyone else is playing checkers,” Seth Greenberg added.
“It’s not like it’s bare bones there, Linda,” Bobby Marks told SportCenter’s Lina Cohen. “There’s still a foundation there. And yes, it cost you Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Danilo Gallinari. I think when you’re getting a player like Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, the picks are worth it.”
“I think you have to give them the edge [in the Western Conference],” Stephen A. Smith said. “I can’t believe that anybody would come to me with a proposition that would say there’s somebody better than the Los Angeles Lakers with LeBron James and Anthony Davis, but the Clippers are clearly a better team this year. And when you talk about them getting Kawhi Leonard, you only thought about him. But if you have Kawhi Leonard with Paul George, and you have two stars on your team with the Los Angeles Clippers, with the depth that they have, with the coaching staff that they have, with the resources they have, etc. I can’t knock anybody right now who would think that the Clippers may very well be above the Lakers in the pecking order.”
“Right now, I think the Clippers are the best team in the league,” said Chris Broussard. “I think for a few reasons: No. 1, their team fits better together — at least right now. We look at the Lakers and we kind of wonder, ‘OK, is Boogie, does he even fit in today’s game?'”
“You cannot double Kawhi Leonard when Paul George is on the floor,” Kenny Smith said. “So, you got two guys who are the best possibly in their position at times, one-on-one players, that will get to play one-on-one. That in itself, that’s what made Michael Jordan so great. He didn’t have guys that…”
“I think this is a huge, huge day for the Clippers’ organization, as far as getting two marquee stars in their prime,” Bruce Bowen said. “A two time MVP in the Finals in Kawhi Leonard being able to lead the charge, and now, kind of give Paul George a little tutelage when it comes to leading a team to a possible championship.”
“It sounds like a great tandem. It sounds like a great tag-team,” said Michael Wilbon. “I don’t understand… I got to hear more as we go on about why Oklahoma City would be so accommodating to the Clippers. For what? Was Paul George first-team or second-team All-NBA? Either way, we’re talking about a top-10 player in the league this season. And now OKC doesn’t have him, to accommodate the Clippers; that’s going to take some digesting as we sort of filter through this the next couple of days. But Paul George and Kawhi Leonard, I mean, yeah, why not? Why? Who wouldn’t want that? And it doesn’t seem like the guts of it. You still got an ensemble around them.”
“There is no price that is too high for the Clippers in this scenario,” Rachel Nichols said.
And yet… there was.
SGA wasn’t this player in 2019. That much is fair. He was a promising young guard, but nobody thought MVP-caliber talent. The Clippers moved him without blinking in a win-now gamble, convinced they were trading for two top-10 guys and an immediate title shot. What they didn’t realize is they already had a budding superstar in their building, one they let go to appease another.
Maybe SGA never becomes this player in L.A. Maybe he does. But that’s the point. Nobody saw it coming. Nobody, except maybe Sam Presti.
And now? It looks like the Clippers paid everything… and gave up the one player who would’ve made it all worth it.