ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the LA Clippers have acquired All-NBA swingman Paul George from the Oklahoma City Thunder.
ESPN’s league sources report that All-Star Paul George is being traded by Oklahoma City to the Los Angeles Clippers 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 in ESPN, the Clippers are trading four unprotected first-round picks, one protected first-round pick, and two pick swaps to the Thunder. These picks are headed to OKC along with Gallinari and SGA.
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 among the most respected dual-threats in the league. Standing at 6-foot-9, the forward had his best career average with 28.0 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 4.1 assists, shooting 38.6 percent from the 3-point range (with 9.8 attempts per game) and an overall 43.8 percent. George was also a contender for the Kia Defensive Player of the Year award and was honored with the All-Defensive First Team title for the second time in his career.
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’s going to join forces with George to aim for more championships in front of their loved ones, while Oklahoma City has to regroup following another big-name exit. Gallinari, who had a career-high average of 19.8 points per game and a 43.3% success rate from three-point range (46.3% overall), is a proficient scorer, although frequently injured, having only played more than 70 games twice in 11 seasons. Gilgeous-Alexander showed promise, quickly establishing himself as the starting point guard during an All-Rookie Second-Team season after being the Clippers’ No. 11 overall draft pick.
The collection of picks offers numerous opportunities for enhancement, and the revamp could potentially extend to include Russell Westbrook, the Thunder’s longstanding point guard.
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.”
