- Share via
It screamed watershed moment, the forever luckless Clippers outfoxing the eternally exalted Lakers for the services of not one, but two superstars.
The news stunned the NBA: In a matter of hours, the Clippers had traded for Paul George and signed Kawhi Leonard.
Six years later, the deal for George is considered tragically lopsided, the Clippers fleeced and forced to watch assets they surrendered lift the Oklahoma City Thunder to an NBA championship, defeating the Indiana Pacers 103-91 Sunday night in Game 7.
The trade wouldn’t be looked upon harshly had the Clippers won a title in the five seasons that George and Leonard played together. But the deepest the team advanced was the Western Conference finals in 2021.
George left as a free agent last offseason, signing with the Philadelphia 76ers. Leonard has played in only 266 of 472 games with the Clippers because of injuries. The Clippers paid George $195.9 million and have paid Leonard $194.6 million — with Leonard under contract for another two years and $100.3 million.
Times columnist Bill Plaschke writes about his experience taking a boxing class to help fight Parkinson’s disease symptoms.
Meanwhile, one of the two players shipped to the Thunder along with five first-round draft picks, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, has blossomed into the NBA‘s most valuable player. And the 2022 draft pick acquired from the Clippers was used to select Jalen Williams, a rising star who averaged 21.6 points a game during the regular season and 20.5 points in the playoffs, including a career-high 40 points in Game 5 of the Finals.
Both are bargains. Gilgeous-Alexander — known as SGA — was paid just $13.5 million his first three seasons with the Thunder before signing a five-year, $173-million contract that will take him through the 2026-27 season. Williams has made $13.7 million in three seasons and will be paid $6.6 million next season, the last of his rookie contract. Both are due massive long-term extensions this offseason.
And it’s a deal that just keeps giving — to the Thunder, who as a result of the trade get the Nos. 15 and 24 picks in this year’s draft and the Clippers’ first-round pick in 2026.
Asked to evaluate the deal moments after the Clippers defeated the Thunder in January 2024, George grudgingly acknowledged that the pendulum had swung toward Oklahoma City.
“I just think both sides won,” he said. “I did think it was quite a lot that the Clippers were willing to give up. ... When that trade first happened, we knew Shai was going to be really, really good, but he’s special.”
George sighed and continued: “I guess in a way, Oklahoma won that trade with the picks and future MVP, but both sides won.”
While Steve Ballmer and Jerry West were part of the Clippers’ year-long strategy to land Kawhi Leonard, Doc Rivers says one ‘hero’ played a decisive role.
The fact is, the Clippers couldn’t say no to the deal. Why? Because Leonard was a free agent coming off an NBA title with Toronto in which he was Finals MVP, and he was weighing offers from the Lakers and Raptors as well as the Clippers.
Signing Leonard was paramount, and he had given the Clippers something of an ultimatum: Trade for a star and I’m yours. Otherwise, it’s hello Lakers.
Clippers owner Steve Ballmer needed to be convinced that giving up the slew of draft picks was a smart move. Leonard signing with the Lakers was an unthinkable outcome to then-Clippers coach Doc Rivers, and he jokingly told Ballmer the Clippers would need to relocate to Seattle if that happened.
“Steve Ballmer was nervous about the picks,” Rivers told The Times in 2019. “I said, ‘Steve, you keep saying six picks for Paul George is insane, but you’re saying it wrong. It’s not six for Paul; it’s six for Paul and Kawhi. So three for each. I would do that.’ You have to look at it in those terms.”
Knowing the Clippers desperately needed to consummate the deal, Thunder general manager Sam Presti demanded SGA — who was coming off an impressive rookie campaign — respected forward Danilo Gallinari and the draft picks.
Unforeseen was that SGA would rapidly rise from promising youngster to foundational piece to perhaps the best player in the NBA. He led the league in scoring this regular season with 32.7 points a game, and was named MVP of the Finals after notching 12 assists and 29 points in Game 7.
The list of players awarded regular-season MVP and Finals MVP in the same season is short. SGA joins a group that includes LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Tim Duncan, Magic Johnson, Kareem-Abdul Jabbar and a handful of others.
Ex-NBA star and legendary bad boy Shawn Kemp pleads guilty to an assault charge in a Tacoma parking lot shooting.
“It doesn’t feel real,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “So many hours. So many moments. So many emotions. So many nights of disbelief. So many nights of belief. It’s crazy to know that we’re all here, but this group worked for it. This group put in the hours and we deserve this.”
Through 23 playoff games this season, SGA averaged 29.9 points, 6.5 assists and 5.3 rebounds. Only Jordan and James have recorded those numbers during a playoff run of that length.
None of this is a complete surprise. SGA provided the Clippers with opportunities to feel seller’s remorse soon after the trade. On Dec. 22, 2019, he scored 32 points with five assists and two steals in a 118–112 Thunder victory over L.A. Two years later almost to the day, he made a three-pointer at the buzzer to give the Thunder a 104–103 win.
Next is closing out the Finals and delivering a title to Oklahoma City — something that has proven elusive for the Clippers, the oldest franchise in North American professional sports to have never played in a championship game.
“This is where we are, you can’t go back in the past,” SGA said. “You can only make the future better. That’s what I’m focused on.”
The Clippers can only do the same.
More to Read
