Trading for established star -- what's not being talked about

[KingSpeed]

A 49-win team with George, Westbrook and Steven Adams that was 5 wins from being second seed? They certainly were a contender and certainly were a team capable of winning the championship or being in the mix next year if they added a piece instead of having George force a trade and blowing it up. We can parse words and pedantic all we want, it doesn't change the fact that they had a tremendous team nor does it have any impact whatsoever on the OP.



He was coming off his rookie year when he averaged 10.8 ppg. He's the best player now. He was a lottery ticket at the time of the trade.

Everyone knew SGA would be this good back then. I listen to all the podcasts and throughout his rookie year, everyone knew he was special.

 

[KingSpeed]

It's not what they did receive. It's what they were probably going to receive.

When you found out the Clippers had signed Kawhi and traded for Paul George, how did you think there team was going to perform over the next year? The next few years? What was the consensus of the experts?

The odds were the Clippers were going to be in the top five or six in the standings for the next few years. Both stars suddenly became injury casualties since, and that's why the draft picks they gave up were better. From OKC's standpoint, though, that was a longshot bet that worked out for them. No one could foresee that.

They weren’t injury casualties right away. They had the whole team in the bubble and blew a 3-1 lead to the Nuggets in the 2nd round.

 

[HoopsFanAZ]

Grant on his final year when traded AND Friend of Dame is a good template of a player having more leverage and a place to go.

Jaylen Brown with one year on contract and the next one is size larger. Unknown on F.O.D. status.
Siakam with one year on contract, making the most on Toronto and soon to up that. F.O.D. unknown.
OG with a player option in a year and oft-rumored in NBA talks associated with Blazers.
DDR is UFA in a year, will be 34, and F.O.D.
Bridges as F.O.D. but with 3 years of contract but also to be 27 and the Nets are far from competing in the East. Face of their franchise after a cup of coffee? Seriously?

As 5 of the usual suspects for a BIG trade, the Blazers are better with ANY of them. Number 3 should not be traded to Chicago or for OG. The others make it an argument.

 

[PCmor7]

Its not one pick, they still owe additional picks sooner than that 2026 pick and they owe unprotected swaps - its basically 7 years of picks from the trade in 2019 - that goes all the way from 2021 to 2026.

It wasn't a first rounder in 3 years - the trade was done in 2019 and they mortgaged their picks until the 2026 draft - long after Kawhi and Paul George were signed - as well as when they were likely to be top NBA players.

This was just a horrible example of a trade where a star pressured his team to move him now. There was zero pressure put on OKC. OKC had Paul George locked up for years and received one of the biggest trade hauls in NBA history. This was actually the exact opposite - where Kawhi pressured the receiving team to do a trade. The equivalent would be if Dame were a free agent this summer and required the Blazers to trade for player x before he returns.

Sigh.

https://okcthunderwire.usatoday.com/2020/01/16/sam-presti-stunned-paul-georges-request-traded/

https://thespun.com/more/top-stories/paul-george-thunder-trade-comments-clippers

https://thunderousintentions.com/2020/07/06/okc-thunder-paul-george-regrade/

https://www.yahoo.com/video/oklahom...pers-kawhi-leonard-free-agency-080247877.html

Before using hyperbole to characterize someone else's posts, maybe you ought to make sure you check your own, you know, so they aren't "horrible."

 

[PCmor7]

Also, George was third in the MVP voting that year.

 

[inconceivable]

someone needs to send that to Dame

If I'm on Twitter, I'd tag him

 

[SlyPokerDog]