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Over the weekend the OKC Thunder shocked the NBA world when they traded Paul George to the LA Clippers.
Oklahoma City is trading All-Star Paul George to the Los Angeles Clippers for a record-setting collection of draft choices, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 6, 2019
Kawhi Leonard has agreed to a deal with the Los Angeles Clippers, league sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 6, 2019
Apparently, Paul George had requested a trade after Kawhi Leonard recruited him last week to join him in L.A.
Via ESPN
After the Clippers met with Leonard for approximately three hours at head coach Doc Rivers’ house in Malibu on Monday night, both sides went to work to make that happen. At the same time he was meeting with the Los Angeles Lakers and Toronto Raptors this week, Leonard was meeting, calling and texting with George, trying to convince him to find a way out of Oklahoma City.
For George to join Leonard with the Clippers, however, he’d have to ask for a trade from Oklahoma City — and that wasn’t going to be pleasant, considering the way the franchise had treated him in the two seasons he’d played there and the bonds that he’d formed.
But George felt like it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, to play at home in L.A. alongside a generational talent like Leonard.
According to a report from The Athletic’s Shams Charania, teams around the league were aware that there was some “discontent” between George and Russell Westbrook.
Rival NBA teams have been aware of the discontent of OKC's two stars: Paul George — and Russell Westbrook, league sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium. Leonard pushed the Clippers in recent days to deliver him a second star, and they did.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 6, 2019
On Sunday, Kevin Durant’s close friend and brand ambassador Randy Williams blasted Westbrook for being a bad teammate and claims that no one wants to play alongside Russ.
https://twitter.com/DiggzWorld/status/1148058555464990721
Kendrick Perkins, who played with both Durant and Westbrook, fired back at Williams for calling out Russ on Instagram.
I just read what Randy Williams wrote about Russ and that’s very disturbing to me! Man really went at Russ like that! That’s WEAK my G! KD needs to check his People! Straight Up! Lost all respect for you Homie!!!!
— Kendrick Perkins (@KendrickPerkins) July 8, 2019