Earlier today, we relayed a report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on the Thunder‘s efforts to engage the Raptors in trade discussions involving Paul George. As Wojnarowski explained, the threat of Oklahoma City sending George to Toronto instead of to Los Angeles forced the Clippers to put a massive offer on the table to ensure that they secured not only George but Kawhi Leonard as well.
[RELATED: Thunder to trade Paul George to Clippers]
Wojnarowski’s report suggested that Thunder head of basketball operations Sam Presti had been open to pursuing a deal with the Raptors that would have sent both George and Russell Westbrook to Toronto, with Pascal Siakam as the centerpiece of the deal. However, Raps president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri balked at the idea, and talks didn’t gain traction.
Bruce Arthur of The Toronto Star adds a few more details to that report, tweeting that the Thunder asked for Siakam, Fred VanVleet, and four unprotected first-round picks as a starting point for George.
Arthur’s report doesn’t make clear whether Westbrook was involved in that proposal, or which veteran(s) the Raptors would have had to include for salary-matching purposes. However, according to Arthur, the Raptors believed they were being used as leverage — and also believed that Leonard would be headed home to Los Angeles.
[RELATED: Russell Westbrook mulling possibility of being traded]
Wojnarowski’s and Arthur’s sources paint a similar picture of the Raptors’ involvement in these trade talks with the Thunder. It sounds as if things never really got all that serious from Toronto’s side, given their concern that they were being used to get more out of the Clippers, but OKC had to make the Clippers believe that sending George to the Raptors was a real possibility. Ujiri and Raps GM Bobby Webster didn’t have the ability or the inclination to top the Clippers’ offer, league sources told Wojnarowski.
It’s possible that the Raptors would’ve made a stronger push for George if they’d known that acquiring him would lead directly to a long-term commitment from Leonard, but there’s no indication that was the case.
As Wojnarowski reported, the Clippers believed Kawhi would go to the Lakers if the Clips couldn’t acquire PG13 — assuming they were right, it’s not clear that Toronto acquiring George would have changed that.
Presti did awesome considering you had a guy tell you he wanted to be traded. To top the AD trade is pretty impressive.
Yes he held his leverage well and works out for both LAC and OKC considering. LAC have been stock piling 1st rd picks so this shouldn’t effect them the way AD will effect the LAL
okc had all the leverage though. any time the clippers call just say no to their offer then tell them to have fun not getting PG&KL and enjoy watching the lakers. eventually they will either give you an offer you can say yes to or you tell PG that the clippers weren’t offering enough.
There was more maneuvering than that though based on early reports. There was a misdirection to support. I’m sure more details will come out.
If you look at this entire situation kawhi Leonard played the Clippers and raptors and even the Lakers like a fiddle. Telling Toronto he can stay if they get George and if not he go to the Lakers telling the clippers he sign if they get George if not he’s going to the Lakers and the Lakers thinking this entire time they are getting him so they did not make any moves and then he pulls this garbage at the last moment. Luckily the Lakers were able to rebound and get guys like cousins, Green and rondo but it looks like the raptors are not as lucky and this was a team they gave up a lot to get that guy in the first place. I’ve talked on previous articles about character and this just is another example of this guys lack of character. Which is why as a Lakers fan I am very happy with who the Lakers got and who they did not get
If Kawhi signed with the Lakers, would you still have made a similar post about his character?
Actually from the reporting it was either LAL or LAC it was never going to be the Raptors.
but toronto didnt get george so he didnt stay. there’s nothing to complain about here, he very clearly didnt want to play with the lakers. he kept the lakers as a backup plan, it was always clippers or toronto.
as for character, he didnt even want to play in toronto but in the playoffs he did everything he could to help them win the finals. people looking at kd’s injury are ignoring the fact that kawhi was injured in the playoffs as well. that much was very clear from the way he was limping around. he risked playing through it like kd did.
lebron on the other hand gave up playing defense for you guys 2 months into the season.
The raptors will still end up with more championships
Toronto gave up very little to get Kawhi. I can’t remember if it was a quote from Ujuri or just a unnamed source but they were happy to get rid of DeRozan’s remaining 3/$84 mil. Other than that and a 2019 late 1st rnd pick, they gave up nothing. They knew they weren’t going to win with the 2017-18 team configuration and 1 year later they’re world champs and 1 season away from clearing another 90 mill off the books. Too bad they weren’t able to do a sign and trade with Kawhi to get some draft assets.
If the source was Chris Broussard, don’t believe it.
misfit Kawhi never told Toronto he would stay if they got George (at least not according to any credible source or this article). OKC pivoted to Toronto to leverage them and clearly they didnt think getting George guaranteed Kawhi. I agree he played people but saying he told Toronto to get George us False.
The only people kawhi played was OKC by talking PG into demanding a trade
I agree goldenmisfit, Lakers did well rebounding and I like their size differences over the Clipps. A year ago LBJ was seen as the best. One year later it’s almost like he’s an afterthought. No matter how you rank em Lakeshow has 2 of top 5 in the game. Titles have been won off less
the interesting configuration of these two LA teams is that they both lack top notch guards at either PG or SG. These two teams are built on guys 6’8 or bigger (except for Lou Williams). A smart coach will figure out how to bully smaller guard- centric teams. GSW would be interesting because i think Rondo and Beverly can stay on Curry, CP3 and Lillard, PG and Kawhi can handle Klay when he returns, Harden and CJ. AD, LBJ and Boogie should be able to shut down Jokic, the entire frontcourt of GSW, Utah, Okc, Portland and the rest of the WC.
i really think the WC is going to have to go thru the two LA teams to get to the finals.
I am glad that the raptors didn’t get sucked in by this rouse that #2 was doing. They would have been stuck with George and lost Siakam who could be a superstar very soon. #2 was trying to be GM and player and the Clippers let him do it. What happens next when he wants another guy and the Clippers say no, how is that going to go over with #2.
He is taking a huge chance that things will go as well as they did in Toronto If not it will be Spurs 2.0.
The laague would he much more competitivenext time around and Raports probably wouldn’t be the favorite for a chip even if he stayed.
Hey is this Skip? I think you’re wrong in trying to assert that Kawhi would make player acquisition demands on his team while under contract. He’s a FA and he basically said “if you want me I’ll sign if you can work out a trade for PG13”. He is not obligated to any team until he signs.
It’s startling how the media and fans built up all this drama on “where will Kawhi sign” and the judge what his legacy will be if he goes to one team vs another. Somehow, this quiet guy who we were slobbering all over thru his postseason run applauding his quietness, workman like team- first approach is now some diva whose running amuck and wrecking havoc and eating babies. Truly sickening and indicative of how we allow narratives to rise and spread thru social media as gospel. It’s like creating heroes so we can destroy them too.
Not really judging by the media and fan perspective but more by the negotiations that went on between the teams which has already been documented. It is really making Leonard look like a piece of garbage by telling Toronto as well as the clippers that if they did not acquire George he was going to the Lakers. Kind of messed up. People can say whatever they want about LeBron James LeBron James was always very upfront where he wanted to go and there were no conditions upon these teams acquiring him. By telling Toronto and the clippers if you don’t get George I’m signing with the Lakers really tells fans especially fans of those two teams that if everything was equal his passion was for the Lakers. Will be interesting to see how Leonard reacts the first time the clippers go on a losing streak because no matter how good you are every team goes on a losing streak.
You have a strange way of seeing things. He’s a FA. He can choose what team he wants to play for. He told the teams the parameters. He didn’t want to be the only star and he identified who he had steoped to in advance. See nothing wrong with that.