Lakers Rumors: Kawhi Leonard Would've Signed Without Clippers' Paul George Trade

The difference between the Los Angeles Lakers forming a superteam around Kawhi Leonard, LeBron James and Anthony Davis and Leonard ultimately signing with the Clippers reportedly came down to one man: Paul George.

According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, Leonard would have chosen the Lakers had the Clippers not pulled off the massive deal to acquire George:

"When it was time to make a decision on sacrificing the franchise's long-term future with a historic haul of draft picks, Steve Ballmer felt he had no choice. Leonard wanted George, and the Clippers paid an unprecedented price in assets. In the minds of the Clippers' decision makers, they were delivering a massive return of assets to Oklahoma City for George and Leonard. Without George, they were losing Leonard to the Lakers, sources said."

The cost was high for the Clippers, as they gave up Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari, unprotected first-round picks in 2022, 2024 and 2026, Miami's unprotected pick in 2021 and protected 2023 pick—previously acquired in separate trades—and pick-swap rights in 2023 and 2025 to the Oklahoma City Thunder for George, according to Woj.

But that's essentially the cost for landing two stars, not just one, as Leonard likely wouldn't have come without George. 

One fascinating subplot in Saturday's stunning news has been George's orbit around the Lakers in the past two offseasons and how he has arguably prevented the team from building the ultimate superteam.

When the Indiana Pacers shopped George in the summer of 2017 and eventually traded him to the Thunder, it was reported the Lakers had been in the running in trade talks. But reports from Woj at the time suggested that the Lakers had been encouraged by George's camp to not to give up assets for him, since he didn't want the team to weaken its roster if he signed with Los Angeles the following summer.

Instead, George surprisingly re-signed with the Thunder and didn't even take a meeting with the Lakers, choosing to chase titles with Russell Westbrook rather than teaming up with LeBron James. 

"LA was pissed at me," George said on the Short Story Long podcast in Aug. 2018, per Scott Gleeson of USA Today "I didn't give Magic [Johnson] a [meeting], which I understand. But at that point, I knew I wanted to give [playing with the Thunder] another shot. I didn't want to prolong it and waste people's time."

Running it back with the Thunder lasted all of one year after George decided this summer that he was ready to move on. And in another knife to the gut of Lakers fans, that decision prompted his trade to the Clippers, which in turn prevented the Lakers from signing Leonard.

On two separate occasions, George thwarted the Lakers' dreams of forming the ultimate superteam around James. And in this latest move, he also made the Lakers' neighbors, the Clippers, the front-runner for this year's NBA title. 

Suffice to say, George probably isn't a popular man among Lakers fans at the moment. In the battle for both Los Angeles and NBA supremacy, he swung the balance toward the Clippers. Add it to the multitude of reasons why this summer has been so wild, and why this season is going to be so much fun.