Friday, the NBA was shaken up twice on the court and off the court. An earthquake that happened in Los Angeles, sent aftershocks to Las Vegas and cancelled an NBA Summer League game. Then, the Los Angeles Clippers shook the league overnight when they signed free agent Kawhi Leonard to a max contract and traded for MVP finalist Paul George from the Oklahoma City Thunder. The biggest free agent watch since Durant in 2016 has finally come to an end.
This story sort of begins at the end of the 2017-2018 season, when Leonard was a member of the San Antonio Spurs. There were a lot of murmurs surrounding a thigh injury he suffered and whether it was part of a bigger plan in terms of his alleged plans to leave the franchise for L.A. pastures. However, he was traded to the Toronto Raptors, along with guard Danny Green, in exchange for guard DeMar Derozan, center Jakob Poetl and a protected first round pick. Many people felt that Toronto would be rolling the dice with just having Leonard for a year, but they did not crap out. He ended up leading the franchise to its first ever championship. It was a playoff run that produced the first ever game winning shot in a Game 7, the Raptors taking down the best team in the NBA in the Milwaukee Bucks, and also the team taking down the Golden State Warriors in the Finals, possibly ending their dynasty. Sure, things seemed like it was good until June 30 arrived.
The Raptors faithful anticipated the day that free agency began. Leonard had brought them their first title, so they would and mostly everybody was coming back, so they would be heavily favored to win again if Leonard opted into the final year of his contract that was left from the Spurs. But rumors of the Lakers and Clippers began to emerge, as both teams were feverishly clearing cap space over the course of the season, making them prepared for this opportunity. As Leonard took meetings with both franchises, reporters and analysts were increasingly leaning towards the Lakers being the frontrunners. It was also reported that Toronto was in close competition with the LAL. It only made sense, since the pieces were already there.
But in the end, Kawhi ultimately held the power and used it to orchestrate one of the wildest deals in NBA free agency history. It was reported that he met with the Clippers and told him the key to getting him, would be getting Paul George from the Thunder. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Clippers sent the Thunder guards Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Danilo Galliniri. They also sent unprotected picks in 2022, 2024 and 2026; unprotected 2021 and 2023 first rounders from their deal with the Heat; rights to swap picks with OKC in 2023 and 2025. This trade allowed for the Clippers to sign Leonrd to a 4 year. $141 million contract.
There is so much to just take in right now from this signing, with this much talent being moved around, especially for the teams who “lost” something in this. The Raptors lost a guy who will forever be embedded in their history for winning them their first title. After all the city of Toronto has done, short of selling their soul, they lost a wonderful player, but they still have a solid team for next year. The Lakers lost out on a chance to become the next super team in the league with Lebron James and Anthony Davis. Adding Leonard would have made them close to unbeatable. The Oklahoma City Thunder surprisingly found themselves in the mix of this circus. Guard Russell Westbrook is now watching another superstar teammate leave him for another star. The Twitter analysts are already chirping with “trade block” and “rebuild” but that remains to be seen.
However, the biggest story, is that Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers have went from 8th seed to sitting atop of the NBA mountaintop. Unlike the Lakers, the Clips were able to retain the role players instrumental in their playoff run. Lou Williams, Montrezl Harrell and Patrick Beverly showed up big in their 6 game series against the Warriors. Despite it being a first-round exit, it showed that LAC only needed a star or two in order to become serious title contenders in the Western Conference. Fast forward to late Friday/early Saturday and they got that deal done. They already have an experienced, and winning, head coach in Doc Rivers so success will surely be met with this team quickly. This is a team franchise that lost 3 of its best players in recent years, with Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan and Chris Paul. However, within just a couple of seasons, the Clippers have rebounded and put themselves back in the quest to take over Los Angeles.