Paul George And Russell Westbrook’s ‘Discontent’ Led To The Massive Clippers Trade

In a move that shook the NBA world in the wee hours of the morning, Kawhi Leonard is reportedly heading to Los Angeles to join the Clippers. That decision stands as exceedingly noteworthy on its own but, just minutes later, word broke that the Clippers executed a blockbuster trade to acquire Paul George from the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari and a bevy of draft assets.

While that bombshell seemingly came out of nowhere, it reportedly coincided with a trade request from Paul George and Shams Charania of The Athletic shed light on the situation in Oklahoma City, citing “discontent” from both George and Russell Westbrook.

Though the reported discontent could mean a number of different things, Leonard’s push to find a second superstar seemingly unearthed interesting issues in Oklahoma City. Obviously, George was “gettable” in that he reportedly pushed for this move behind the scenes but, in the same breath, it is presently unclear as to whether OKC’s power duo was simply frustrated with the organization or whether there was internal strife between the two lead stars.

The Thunder spent considerable resources to operate into the luxury tax last season but Oklahoma City has been linked to various cost-cutting maneuvers in recent days. As presently constructed, Oklahoma City does not appear to be a legitimate NBA title contender and, as such, pressing the reset button could be intriguing.

On the flip side, Westbrook is under contract for the next four seasons, with a $38.5 million salary for 2019-20 and a $47 million player option in 2022-23. That could be seen as a substantial road block to any full-fledged rebuild in Oklahoma City but, for now, the rumblings inside the organization will be interesting to monitor in the coming days.