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When Paul George hit the market as an unrestricted free agent last summer, most in the NBA community assumed it was a matter of time before he signed with the Los Angeles Lakers. After all, George had grown up a Lakers fan and had been very transparent about his desire to play in Los Angeles.
Instead, George elected to re-sign with the Oklahoma City Thunder in a rather surprising move. But George's decision not to head to L.A. last summer may have been motivated by some hard feelings, according to Marc J. Spears of The Undefeated:
Los Angeles wasn’t in the picture. The native of Palmdale, California, about an hour drive outside of L.A., had even turned down a chance to meet with the Lakers as a free agent last year. George was disappointed that the Lakers had declined to trade the No. 2 pick in the 2017 NBA draft (Lonzo Ball) or young forward Brandon Ingram to the Indiana Pacers to acquire him, a source previously told The Undefeated.
Coincidentally, George will indeed head to L.A. following the departure of both Ball and Ingram. But he will not be heading to the Lakers.
While Rob Pelinka and Co. eventually got their man in Anthony Davis, the Clippers' front office pulled a stunner in trading a record number of future draft picks (in addition to Danilo Gallinari and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) in order to acquire George, thereby assuring that they would have enough leverage to sign Kawhi Leonard.
After dreaming of playing for the Lakers for years, George is turning into the team's worst nightmare.
