ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the LA Clippers have acquired All-NBA swingman Paul George from the Oklahoma City Thunder.
ESPN league sources report that All-Star Paul George is being traded from Oklahoma City to the Los Angeles Clippers in exchange for a record-breaking assortment of draft picks.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 6, 2019
Per Wojnarowski, free agent forward Kawhi Leonard had been recruiting George, who reportedly then requested a trade and will arrive in exchange for a “record-setting” package of draft picks and players:
According to league sources as reported by ESPN, the Clippers are trading four unprotected first-round picks, one protected first-round pick, and two pick swaps to the Thunder. OKC will also receive Gallinari and SGA along with those picks.
Marc Stein of The New York Times later clarified that OKC’s picks broke down to the Clippers’ unprotected firsts in 2022, ’24 and ’26, along with Miami firsts in ’21 (unprotected; acquired in the Tobias Harris trade) and ’23 (protected 1-14; acquired in the reported four-team Jimmy Butler trade days ago) as well as pick swaps in ’23 and ’25.
George, a 29-year-old six-time All-Star who recently completed his first All-NBA First Team season, is recognized as one of the NBA’s top dual-threat players. The 6-foot-9 forward posted career-high averages of 28.0 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 4.1 assists, while shooting 38.6 percent from beyond the 3-point line (9.8 attempts per game) and a total average of 43.8%. George was also nominated for the Kia Defensive Player of the Year award and earned his second All-Defensive First Team title.
This comes on the heels of news that reigning Finals MVP Leonard reportedly intends to sign with the Clippers as a free agent.
According to Wojnarowski, Southern California natives Leonard (Los Angeles) and George (Palmdale) met earlier in the week. Leonard then “made it clear” to Clippers brass that he would sign if George was coming along.
Leonard led the Toronto Raptors to their first NBA championship with a staggering postseason run, reasserting his dominant position among the active player pantheon after an injury-plagued, nine-game 2017-18 season with San Antonio.
He will partner with George to vie for more championships in front of loved ones and friends, while Oklahoma City has to rebuild after yet another high-profile exit. Gallinari, who posted a career-high average of 19.8 points per game and a 43.3% shooting accuracy from the three-point line (46.3% overall) is a competent scorer, although he’s frequently injured, having played more than 70 games only twice in 11 seasons. Gilgeous-Alexander showed great promise, rapidly establishing himself as the starting point guard during an All-Rookie Second-Team season after being picked 11th overall by the Clippers.
The stockpile of picks offers various paths for enhancement, and the revamp could potentially extend to include Thunder’s veteran point guard, Russell Westbrook.
Shams Charania of The Athletic reported that word of “the discontent of OKC’s two stars” — George and Westbrook — had begun to spread throughout the league. The Athletic’s Sam Amick added that Westbrook’s future with the Thunder “is certainly in question.”
