It would make sense if it was true, but I’m not so sure. The LA Clippers have supposedly been hyping up the trade value of Paul George with teams across the league in hopes of making a deal to break up the George-Leonard duo.
If we know anything about the Clippers, it’s that they’ll make even great situations turn into an utter dumpster fire.
The Los Angeles Clippers might finally be feeling a little buyers remorse on the Kawhi Leonard and Paul George partnership as they have supposedly been shopping around Paul George with teams at the NBA Draft. And, even though I think they’re picking the wrong person to be shopping around, I support this move.
It’s no secret that the Clippers blocker buster signings of Kawhi Leonard for 3 years, $109M (and then resigning him to a 4-year, $176M deal) and trading 5 1st round picks and pick swaps for Paul George (and then resigning him to the exact same extension) hasn’t really worked out.
And that’s putting it mildly.
In fact, it’s probably been one of the worst superstar tandem formations in the last 10 years as the pair have not only failed to make it out of the Western Conference every year for the last five years, but they’ve also been the most injury prone players in basketball.
I not trying to be a jackass here, but they’re like the Thumbelina (if there was two of her) of the NBA.
Seriously, neither Leonard nor George have played more than 62 games in a season for the Clippers since joining, while the pair have missed and outrageous
Kawhi Leonard takes the cake for sitting on the sidelines as he’s missed 167 games of a total of 328 available, though Paul George isn’t too far behind him with his 139 missed games. So, the Clippers wanting to move on from one of these guys is totally understandable.
Though, what I don’t understand is why they would move on from Paul George and not Kawhi Leonard?
Paul George not only has played in more games for the Clippers than Leonard (meaning he’s been on the court more), but he’s also in better physical condition and was more productive than Leonard.
Sure, George attracts injuries like honey does flies and he’s two years older (George: 33, Leonard: 31), but his have been manageable and non-career threating ones. That’s just not the case for Leonard.
With his knees in the state they are in, I’m not sure he’ll even be able to play basketball again, let alone be the dominating force that won the San Antonio Spurs their 2014 NBA championship and the Toronto Raptors their 2019 NBA championship as the Finals MVP.
I’m sure the Clippers will be able to find some doop willing to give up promising young players or high end draft picks for Kawhi (I mean, the Timberwolves traded 4 1st round picks for Rudy Gobert), even with all of his injuries.
They could also get trade partners for Paul George, but he actually has a chance of recovering from his injuries and becoming an All-NBA player once again like he was with the Pacers and Thunder.
As for the production aspect, both these guys have very similar numbers with George posting 23.8 PPG, 6.1 RPG, 5.1 APG, and 1.5 SPG in 54 games, while Leonard averaged 23.8 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 3.9 APG, and 1.4 SPG in 52 games.
Again, these guys are very similar and should have near equal trade value based on their statistical merit.
Nonetheless, we’ll have to wait and see how this situation plays out or if it even plays out as the Clippers have not made it public that their desire is to trade George or Leonard.
But we do know that whatever happens, the Clippers will find a way to turn it into a disaster.
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