The Clippers Botched The Paul George Era

On July 10, 2019, the Los Angeles Clippers agreed to a blockbuster trade that would see them acquire forward Paul George from the Oklahoma City Thunder in return for guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, forward Danilo Gallinari, and seven years worth of first-round draft capital. While LA paid a hefty price for George’s services, it was seen as being worth it to acquire an All-NBA player who was among the league’s best two-way players.

Fast forward five years to 2024, and George has now left the Clippers after a disappointing five-year run. Before he left, however, the team rejected a sign and trade offer from the Golden State Warriors that would've resulted in them recouping some assets they lost in the initial trade that brought in George. In my opinion, the Clippers botched both the initial trade, the potential Warriors trade, and the George era. Given how much they gave up for PG13 and how much they underachieved with him, this has to be considered one of the worst trades in sports history.

The OKC Trade Was An Unmitigated Disaster

The Clippers were supposed to contend for an NBA title with him and the recently signed Kawhi Leonard as their superstar duo, but only managed one Western Conference Finals appearance as Leonard and George dealt with injuries and playoff underperformance. The underachievement of this duo alone makes this trade a failure.

As for Oklahoma City, the trade saw them land a franchise cornerstone in Gilgeous-Alexander, or better known as SGA, and one of the picks they received from the Clippers became rising star Jalen Williams. SGA is now a top-flight point guard who is an elite scorer, while Williams is a promising forward with great potential. Those two, along with No. 2 overall pick Chet Holmgren, have formed the core of what is expected to be a title contender for the foreseeable future. The acquisitions of SGA and Jalen Williams alone makes this trade a win for OKC.

The Rejected Trade Offer From Golden State Will Haunt The Clippers

According to The Athletic, the package that the Clippers rejected from the Warriors for Paul George included Chris Paul, Andrew Wiggins, one of Jonathan Kuminga or Moses Moody, and a first-round pick.

I would have accepted this trade from Golden State on the condition that they add another first-round pick. The acquisition of Kuminga or Moody would've given the team a young core player to build a contender around, putting them in a similar position to the one the Thunder were in when the Clippers traded SGA to them. Bringing back a franchise legend in CP3 would have been a good fit to a team with a lot of catch and shoot guys and not a lot of vocal leadership. The Clippers would've won this trade in both the short and long term.

The piece from The Athletic states that the Clippers rejected this offer because they didn't want to see him on a team with Steph Curry and Draymond Green. This was a move that was both petty and shows the insecurity of the Clippers franchise. Management, specifically owner Steve Ballmer, knows that they botched the OKC trade so badly that they are fearful of getting fleeced again. From my point of view, it's understandable. I saw Paul George as the necessary piece for Golden State to contend during the last years of Steph and Draymond’s primes, as they would have an elite two-way player to complement Steph’s shooting and Draymond’s defense. However, I will stand by my belief that the Clippers would've won the trade anyways due to what they would have gotten in return for George.

The Paul George era was a failure for the Clippers. The trade that brought him there was a disaster, the sign and trade that would've sent him to Golden State was something that LA should've accepted, and his time with the team was marked by consistent underachievement. Now, the team is stuck in no man’s land- not good enough to be a contender, not good enough to tank for bad draft picks (not that they can anyways). And with their best players being an oft-injured Kawhi Leonard and a past his prime James Harden, this team has a very dark future ahead.

Serafino Diaz is a writer at Chaotically Intolerant, Phoenix's finest Vikings, Bucks, and Cubs fan, traveling everywhere I can.