Kawhi Leonard Makes his Decision with a Twist
After days and days of speculation of what team Kawhi Leonard would decide to sign with, early Saturday morning he finally made a decision but with a twist. At 1:53
After days and days of speculation of what team Kawhi Leonard would decide to sign with, early Saturday morning he finally made a decision but with a twist.
At 1:53 in the morning, it was announced that Kawhi Leonard would be signing with the Los Angeles Clippers on a four year $142 million contract. There’s the decision but where’s the twist you might ask? The twist is that in addition to adding Kawhi Leonard, the Clippers will also add PAUL GEORGE!
Free agent forward Kawhi Leonard will sign with the Los Angeles Clippers, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) July 6, 2019
In a move that surprised seemingly everyone, the Clippers traded Danilo Gallinari, Shai Gilgeous Alexander, four unprotected first-round picks, a protected first-round pick and two pick swaps for Paul George. This deal came about when Kawhi Leonard requested that whoever signed him also got Paul George. The Thunder offered a trade to the Raptors but the Raptors declined when they were unwilling to trade Pascal Siakam allowing the Clippers to make the trade that secured Kawhi.
The Clippers are sending the Thunder four unprotected first-round picks, one protected first-round pick and two pick swaps, league sources tell ESPN. Those picks go to OKC with Gallinari and SGA.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 6, 2019
Kawhi is coming off an incredible 2018-2019 season with the Toronto Raptors winning the NBA Finals over the Golden State Warriors in six games. The win for the Raptors is their first NBA championship in franchise history. Kawhi Leonard averaged 28.5 points, 9.8 rebounds, 4.2 assists and 2 steals in the Finals on his way to winning his second championship and NBA Finals MVP of his career.
Leonard’s move to the Clippers makes him just the second Finals MVP to change teams the season after winning the award the first being Michael Jordan retiring after winning Finals MVP in 1993 and 1998.
A year we will never forget. Thank you, @kawhileonard. #WeTheNorth pic.twitter.com/NWN3wnIa62
— Toronto Raptors (@Raptors) July 6, 2019
Paul George possibly had the best season of his career last season averaging career highs in points per game (28), rebounds per game (8.2), steals per game (2.2) in which he was also the league leader, and tied a career high in assists per game (4.1). He along with Russell Westbrook led the Thunder to a 49-33 record finishing in sixth place in the Western Conference. The Thunder were not able to duplicate their success from the regular season in the postseason as they were eliminated by the Portland Trail Blazers in five games after an incredible game/series winning three-point shot by Damian Lillard.
The Clippers will look to build with their new acquisitions after finishing with a record of 48-34 and the eighth seed in the Western Conference. In the playoffs, they played well taking the eventual Western Conference champions to six games. The Clippers were led by Lou Williams who would win the Sixth Man of the Year award along with Patrick Beverly and Montrezl Harrell.
As a team who has never made the Western Conference Finals in their franchise’s history, it will be interesting to see if the Clippers are able to make history and not only get to the Western Conference Finals, but to get to and win an NBA championship.
