Was Paul George for SGA the Worst Trade in NBA History? | Group Chat | Ringer NBA

Justin, Rob, and Wos look back at the 2019 trade that sent superstar Paul George from the Oklahoma City Thunder to the L.A. Clippers for perennial MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

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[matta]

You guys are seriously downplaying just how bad the trade was. The year the Clippers missed the playoffs, their lottery pick went to OKC and was used to select Jalen Williams, who is a budding star. Not only that, but OKC still own two future unprotected 1st and a pick swap from the Clippers.

[ErroneousMonk]

No, it was the best trade ever. It destroyed the Clippers and set up the Thunder for years. Win-win for the NBA.

[DavidLightbringer]

the real truth here is that kawhi Leonard conned everyone. his body has never been right after Toronto, he's always been mysterious and secretive about his injuries. his entire contract with the clippers was a con, but they have only themselves to blame. resigning him and letting Paul George go was madness. now they have broken down Leonard, and James Harden? lol

[ShepardDrake]

Lmfao you guys have no idea what you're talking about.

NO ONE gave the Clippers an A+ on trade night for this, even when it happened people were talking about how the Clippers got fleeced.

You didn't even talk about one of the picks becoming Jalen Williams (you guys probably don't know)

Everyone knew Shai was going to be really good, Doc didn't want to include him in the trade but Sam Presti pushed and had the leverage.

[Wes]

Back then we knew SGA had star potential. They swung for the fences for a chip it just didn’t work out . Losing a young MVP candidate plus a ton of picks was the cost . This trade is certainly up there . AND IT WAS DOC RIVERS THAT STRUCK AGAIN lol.

[verymadhatter]

cant speak on anyone else, but as an OKC resident I remember when that notification came across my phone in the middle of the night. After the initial shock of trading Paul George, I saw the haul we got and I was ecstatic. From day 1 the attitude was that the Thunder Fleeced them. Pretty much this exact scenario was at the forefront of that thought. "Both guys are injury prone and have a history of leaving unfavorable situations. those unprotected picks are gonna be absolute gold" I Don't particularly remember the national media narrative but locally, we were psyched.

[michaelcorcoran]

I couldn't believe the haul they had to give up to get George at the time. I mean, it's a testament to how valuable Leonard was at the time, because he had just won the title with Toronto. And basically, if you wanted him, you needed Paul..

They ended up getting a guy who's probably a top five player in the league and more picks than I can even remember. Sam Preston is an Emerson Lion!

[dxy]

Wos - The Lakers were the faves before the bubble. They were 5 1/2 games up on the Clippers when the season was suspended.

[highdough]

There were a lot of people who questioned how much the Clippers had to give up even back then. Including me. Especially since both Kawhi and George had a loooong history of injuries.

Plus, you’re getting two guys who have a history of leaving at least two different teams.

[WheresWaldo]

The trade was Kawhi/PG13 for all those assets. Clippers were not getting either player without this trade.

[melburnmt]

Even worse that their picks are unprotected and have pick-swap rights. PG is out, got an aging Kawhi/Harden, no real picks of their own and a very average team. This means the value behind the picks they gave are much higher because they won't be nearly as good as they had hoped. Thunder can draft high draft pieces whilst being a contender or bait teams into giving them already developed, good players. The trade went from bad, to very bad, to very very bad.

[fhsambuichi]

The power of hindsight. We knew SGA had potential, but not this much.

[noah.conley]

Yes it is, as a Thunder fan! Don’t forget the Thunder have swap rights to 2025 1st round clippers pick and unprotected 2026 1st from the clippers! Not to mention they got Jalen Williams and Shai from the Paul George trade

[oscarjimenez]

As a Clippers fan, going on 20 years. This trade felt like we were giving too much. Really liked Shai, wish we gave up another young player. However, we had a new owner and he wanted to win and get superstars! So be it. I root for Shai, except when he plays the Clippers. Shit happens. Move on. People were hyping us to win, we just kept having bad injury luck. If i could go back, id try to not give up Shai. However, OKC probably would have passed and Kawhi may have gone to the Lakers. So we had to. Sucks, but we wanted to contend. Folks to crazy things for a ring. 😂❤

[ryanwidell]

I said during SGAs rookie season he looks like Baby Jordan. My friends made fun of me when I stuck with that nickname. Was bummed when he was traded for a broken Paul George.

[joeldriver-sprg]

Nothing will ever top trading away James Harden. That trade literally changed history because if Presti keeps that team intact (that had already made the finals once) they would not only gone on to become a dynasty the Warriors never would have happened. OKC would have been kicking their ass in the Western conference finals every year. KD, Westbrook, Harden and Ibaka would have won at least 3 championships but possibly more. There has never been a team with 3 MVP level players on it other than that team.

[banditonehundred]

The Clippers should have signed and traded George. It’s worked out very well for OKC and Indy

Paul George for Oladipo and Sabonis (eventually Halliburton)

Paul George for SGA and boat loads of picks

[Red_Ryan_Red]

Okc fan here… Brooklyn-Boston trade is still several echelons worse than the clippers deal. The okc deal will be worse if we can win a championship or multiple.

[Jerm]

Love when this happens and people talk about it like it was an over pay at the time. No it wasn't. In hindsight it's an overpay. Trades like this will continue to happen. That's just the way the league is these days. There are maybe a handful of teams who wouldn't trade their future for a guy coming off a dominant finals/finals MVP and someone who ranked 3rd in MVP voting. This same trade will happen in a year or two when more superstars or excellent role players (like Bridges/Gobert) want to be traded.

[teddymark]

This trade is god awful now, will look even worse if SGA keeps ascending and plays long term in OKC. Viewers here may be too young to remember Dražen Petrović, but I feel like that has to rank up there in the annals of bad trades. Now if you guys want to start a debate on the worst trades ever sans hindsight, thats an entirely different debate. Maybe Adrian Dantley for Mark Aguirre to me anyway always stuck out as a head scratcher on the Mavericks end when it happened.