Thunder HC Billy Donovan 'Was Taken Back' by Paul George Trade to Clippers

The Oklahoma City Thunder had a transformative summer, trading Paul George to the Los Angeles Clippers and Russell Westbrook to the Houston Rockets in blockbuster deals that changed the landscape of the NBA.

And while head coach Billy Donovan is trying to roll with the punches, he admitted that George's trade request to the Clippers surprised him, per Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman:

"I was taken back, because... I think Paul enjoyed his time here. I do think when he first came here, there was a lot of speculation. 'This is only going to be a one-year experiment and then he's going to want to get back to LA.' Paul's obviously got a lot of ties and affinity for LA and where he's from. I get that part of it. I get that part for his family. His mom and dad are great people. Yeah, It catches you."

The story of how George ended up with the Clippers started with Kawhi Leonard, who told the Clippers he wanted a second superstar to play with if he signed with them over the summer. Leonard first tried to recruit Kevin Durant, per Ramona Shelburne of ESPN, though KD signed with the Brooklyn Nets.

So Leonard put the full-court press on George, convincing him to request a trade and convincing the Clippers to make one with Oklahoma City.

Shelburne noted at the time that it wasn't an easy decision for George to request a trade "considering the way the franchise had treated him in the two seasons he'd played there and the bonds that he'd formed." But George "felt like it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, to play at home in L.A. alongside a generational talent like Leonard."

To general manager Sam Presti's credit, he got an enormous haul in exchange for George once he relented to trading him. The Thunder landed Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari, four unprotected first-round picks (2021 via Miami, 2022, 2024 and 2026), a 2023 protected first-rounder via Miami and pick-swap rights in 2023 and 2025.

Of course, OKC's summer of change wasn't done there. With George gone and the Thunder clearly eyeing the future, superstar point guard Russell Westbrook began talks with the Thunder regarding his future and the possibility of a trade.

Soon enough, that materialized as well—Westbrook was traded to the Houston Rockets in exchange for Chris Paul, protected first-round picks (1-4) in 2024 and 2026 and pick-swap rights in 2021 and 2025. Suddenly, the Thunder were rife with future draft assets, though the team's identity in the near-term is cloudy.

Will they try to compete behind veterans like Paul, Gallinari and Steven Adams? Or will they eventually move on from them too in an effort to hand the keys to Gilgeous-Alexander? Of course, moving on from Paul's contract will be easier said than done otherwise he likely would have been dealt by now. 

But regardless, Donovan will head into the 2019-20 season with an entirely new roster on his hands and a team with dramatically different expectations from a year ago. The Westbrook-George pairing never quite reached the heights they would have hoped for—in two seasons, they never reached 50 wins or won a playoff series—but that partnership coming to such an abrupt halt nonetheless sent shockwaves around the NBA.

Now it's up to Donovan to figure out the Thunder's on-court identity going forward.