The Clippers executed what appeared to be an audacious masterstroke on a single afternoon in Los Angeles during the summer of 2019. They made a huge trade for Paul George from Oklahoma City and signed Kawhi Leonard in free agency all in one day. There was a real feeling that something had changed in the hallways of the Staples Center. A team that had been in the shadow of the Lakers for decades was now competing for the top spot. It appeared daring. It appeared intelligent. For roughly a week, it appeared as though it might be successful.
The complete accounting is harsh seven years later. The Thunder received Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari, five unprotected first-round draft picks, and two first-round pick swaps from the Clippers in exchange for Paul George. SGA was a young guard with promise at the time; he was competent, effective, and obviously gifted, but he was not yet the player he would develop into. The Clippers determined that George, a proven All-Star, was worth more than a 21-year-old’s potential. In retrospect, that calculation ranks among the most significant errors in NBA history.
Gilgeous-Alexander did not simply grow. He rose to become one of the league’s top players. A candidate for MVP twice. The face of a Thunder program that built a real contender using those draft selections, including one that turned into Jalen Williams. In just a few seasons, Oklahoma City transformed from a rebuilding lottery team to a dominant force in the Western Conference. Meanwhile, the Clippers continued to wait for their window to open.
It never quite succeeded. The Clippers won three playoff series during the five seasons that George and Leonard spent together. In 2020, they blew a 3-1 lead. In 2021, they advanced to the conference finals without Leonard due to an ACL tear. In the end, George departed as a free agent. Leonard remained, but he continued to miss games, series, and seasons. The pair that was meant to put an end to the Clippers’ championship drought failed to do so.
Looking back, it seems like the trade was always a reach, based more on optimism than structure. At the time, Clippers supporters sensed it. Quietly, some analysts said it. The picks that were given up had no safety net in case things went wrong, no margin for error, and no space to make adjustments. And in nearly every direction imaginable, things went sideways.
The second blow came in September of 2026. The Clippers lost five more first-round picks from 2029 to 2033 as a result of the NBA’s decision regarding salary cap circumvention. Los Angeles has now given up ten first-round picks overall, including two pick swaps, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Danilo Gallinari, all related to the choice to retain Kawhi Leonard and acquire Paul George. Steve Ballmer was fined $30 million. The owner was suspended for a year. The investigation is still ongoing, so it’s possible that the fines will increase.
Earlier this summer, the Thunder quietly completed the final components of the George trade structure, garnering little notice. It makes sense. They were already victorious. Really, they had won the day the trade was first decided upon years ago. All OKC had to do was wait for the rest of the league to catch up to the box score.
With Darius Garland, incoming rookie Keaton Wagler, and the players acquired in the Kawhi Leonard trade, the Clippers are currently rebuilding. Gradey Dick and Brandon Ingram came from Toronto. The group is younger. less expensive. free from the burden of an unsuccessful superteam era. It’s genuinely unclear if that will be sufficient to recover from ten years of draft capital depletion.
In 2019, the Paul George trade didn’t seem like a catastrophe. It appeared to be ambition. However, the Clippers have long since run out of margin, and ambition without margin is just risk.
