Perennial All-Star forward Paul George grew up in Southern California as a fan of the Los Angeles Lakers and the late great Kobe Bryant. After spending his first several NBA seasons with the Indiana Pacers, he expressed his interest in returning home and playing for the team he grew up rooting for.
Instead, he was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2017. The following summer, he had the opportunity to join the Lakers as a free agent and team up with LeBron James. Instead, he re-upped with the Thunder, and he seemed to have a strong bond with Russell Westbrook.
Just a year later, he was sent packing to the Southland — as a new member of the Los Angeles Clippers to team up with Kawhi Leonard.
Now that his tenure with L.A.’s junior varsity NBA team is over, George opened up about how it felt to play for it during a recent episode of “Podcast P with Paul George,” his podcast.
“I think initially, coming back to L.A., that was home when I first came back to L.A., but it’s not the same love,” said George. “Because when I was in L.A. they was like ‘Man, you should’ve been a Laker,’ that’s all I was hearing. It wasn’t no ‘Welcome to the Clippers.’ We happy you in L.A., but you should’ve been a Laker. I’m on the B-Team. That’s how the vibe and the love felt.”
The Clippers gave up a king’s ransom to get George: guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, forward Danilo Gallinari and a whopping seven first-round draft picks. At the time, it was thought to be a massive win for them, and they were the overwhelming favorites to win the world championship once the 2019-20 season started.
But they blew a 3-1 series lead in the second round of the playoffs to the Denver Nuggets that year, preventing what seemed to be a fated matchup with the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals.
Even though the Clippers were picked to win it all at least one season afterward, they now have just one Western Conference Finals appearance, two first-round exits and one play-in tournament loss to show for that George trade.
Meanwhile, Gilgeous-Alexander is now a young MVP candidate, and one of those draft picks the Thunder acquired turned into Jalen Williams, who seems to be blossoming into a star in his own right. According to the terms of the deal, Oklahoma City is still owed three more first-rounders.
By now, one has to clearly conclude that Oklahoma City fleeced the Clippers in that deal.
George joined the Philadelphia 76ers in free agency this offseason, and the Clippers are now left with an aging, injury-prone and unreliable star duo in Leonard and James Harden. It has reinforced the Clippers’ reputation as (we’re trying to be polite here) a second-rate NBA team.
