The LA Clippers gave up a massive haul of five first-round picks to acquire Paul George, a transaction that would be unfathomable if done at the trade deadline. Yet context plays a big part as to why they were willing to mortgage their potentially bright future, as the now could be even brighter by signing a finished product in Kawhi Leonard.
The Clips were not giving up five picks for one player, but that was essentially the price they were paying for a George-Leonard tandem, as that would seal the latter's commitment to the franchise:
“You're not getting one player,” a rival executive told Andrew Sharp of Sports Illustrated of the Clippers' rationale. “You're getting both. If you don't do it? The guy you really wanted, he goes to… Well, I actually don't think he'd go to the Lakers. But there's a chance he goes to the Lakers. If you do it, you're getting both those guys. You have two really good two-way players on your team. They can guard the s**t out of the ball and they can score it. They're top five, top 10 players. I would start my team with those two and figure it out. Your odds are so much better now to win [a title]. It doesn't matter if you messed up the future in 2025.”
LA was running short on time and racing the clock before the end of the moratorium period. The prospect of losing a player of Leonard's caliber to their hallway rival Los Angeles Lakers was one the Clippers did not want to fathom, so they made the deal, now putting up that stiff competition against their next-door neighbors.
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