Shams: 'Discontent' Between Paul George, Russell Westbrook Before Clippers Trade
NBA executives were reportedly aware of "discontent" between Oklahoma City Thunder teammates Russell Westbrook and Paul George ahead of the proposed blockbuster trade Saturday sending George to the Los Angeles Clippers to join free-agent signing Kawhi Leonard.
Shams Charania of Stadium and The Athletic reported the update and noted the Clippers turned to OKC after Leonard requested a superstar teammate in order to sign in L.A.
George, likely sensing his exit from the Thunder would be quickly viewed as an indictment of Westbrook, took to Twitter amid the chaos overnight:
The always opinionated Skip Bayless of Fox Sports didn't waste any time in going after Russ, though:
Westbrook is an incredible individual talent who posts ridiculous stat lines pretty much every game. Yet, it's fair to debate whether his play style and poor shooting efficiency will prevent his teams from winning a championship.
The 30-year-old UCLA product has compiled season-long triple-double numbers each of the past three years. But he's a career 43.4 percent shooter and attempted 5.6 threes per game last season despite shooting 29 percent from beyond the arc, the NBA's worst mark among qualified players.
In February, George said his perception of Westbrook changed after playing alongside him (some language NSFW):
Now the question is whether the Thunder could go all-in on their rebuilding efforts by trading the dynamic point guard, too.
Alex Kennedy of HoopsHype reported a "number of NBA executives believe it's a possibility" with OKC no longer in the league's group of contenders following George's exit.
If so, it'll be intriguing to see whether any of the NBA's select class of top teams make a serious push for Westbrook with the belief he can be a key asset for a squad in title contention.
