Kawhi Leonard made sure he found a way to team up with Paul George this offseason by essentially forcing the Los Angeles Clippers to trade for him, and that is something the NBA Finals MVP has been trying to make happen for quite some time.
ESPN’s Rachel Nichols asked Leonard this week when it was that he decided he wanted to play with George, and the answer was somewhat surprising. Kawhi says he was trying to get the San Antonio Spurs to make a play for George before the swingman was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
I asked Kawhi when he first knew he wanted to play with Paul George:
"I was trying to get San Antonio to get him over to us. You know how things work with trades, he ended up to the Thunder. But that’s probably when the initial idea started, when he wanted to get out of Indiana."— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) July 25, 2019
Leonard obviously likes George’s game, and you can understand why. Both players are known as great defenders who can also score. Some will say there aren’t enough shots to go around for George and Leonard, but George was plenty successful playing alongside Russell Westbrook. If he touched the ball enough in OKC, he’ll be fine with the Clippers.
The difference between this offseason and several years ago is Leonard was able to manipulate his situation more, and we already know how the Los Angeles Lakers feel about that. If he’s been wanting to play with George for that long, he must have a good reason for it.
