Kawhi Leonard choosing to sign with the LA Clippers in free agency was not a huge surprise, but the massive shocker was Paul George being acquired by the team in a trade. The team’s ability to land George is what made signing Leonard possible.
So just how did that come together? According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Leonard met with George in Los Angeles to recruit him to join him on the Clippers. George complied and approached the Thunder to request a trade. Woj says Oklahoma City did not want to enter a season with a discontent star, so they made the deal.
After Leonard pushed George to find a way to get to the Clippers, Paul George approached the team and requested a trade, league sources tell ESPN. OKC was left with no choice and made the best out of a difficult situation, per sources.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 6, 2019
Paul George asked the Thunder for a trade within the last few days, and according to sources OKC felt it had no choice but to find a deal to reboot, rather than risk a bad situation all year long with an unhappy star
— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) July 6, 2019
Sources: Leonard and George met in LA earlier in week. Clippers had long been frontrunners for Leonard, but it is unlikely he would've made final leap to sign without PG trade. Clippers imagined Leonard as part of a Lakers Big 3 — and knew they had no choice. They did OKC deal.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 6, 2019
There are a few takeaways here.
One is that for all the jokes about him being anti-social, Leonard turned out to be a great recruiter. He reportedly tried to get Kevin Durant to join him on the Clippers. When that didn’t work out, he recruited Paul George and made that happen.
Two is that the Thunder are completely retooling and now will have several future draft picks and a few quality players in Danilo Gallinari and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to join Russell Westbrook, Steven Adams, and the rest of the Thunder.
