Have The Los Angeles Clippers Officially Lost The Trade?

Have The Los Angeles Clippers Officially Lost The Trade?

on today’s show. A show not for the faint of heart. A show for the heartbroken Clipper fan. A show for maybe a Clipper fan that wants to reflect. And a show that I just feel like I had to do. Going to be talking about it all on today’s Locked On Clippers. [Music] You are Locked on Clippers, your daily Los Angeles Clippers podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Yes sir, you were locking in with the Clips. Thank you for making Locked On Clippers the first listen of your day, your team every day. I’m your host, Darian Vizeri. Born and raised in LA. Been a Clipper fan for 20 years. has been covering the team for 5 years on my own YouTube channel, Dimeropper in three years right here on the Lockdown Podcast Network. Your team every day. Make sure to subscribe on YouTube and of course listen wherever you get your podcast. In this episode, I am going to be talking about if we lost the trade now that SGA has won MVP, now that the Thunder are going to the finals and are favorite to win. I know it’s an uncomfortable topic. I know it is. People are going to say, “Are you kidding me, dude? You want to just talk about this negative stuff?” Look, man, we got all off season. We’ll talk about positive. We’ll talk about negative. We’ll reflect. You know, we’re just trying to talk Clippers basketball. And I think it would just be kind of messed up if I didn’t just look back at this because it was the talk of on social media and it’s going to be when something like this is happening. So, my first thing I’m going to say about this is everyone is going to try to see this trade that we made with the lens of what has happened now. And I’m gonna say this right now. That moment on Wednesday when the Oklahoma City Thunder clinched their second ever finals birth, of course, the first one being in 2011 12 was the moment we lost the trade officially. Because for me, people can say whatever they want, but at the end of the day, the results are what matter. And in 2021, we had made it to the conference finals and the second we had made it further than them in the first two years. We were better than them in the third year. We were better than them in the fourth year. And then year five was the first season that they had a better record than us and went further than us. So at that point, it’s like who’s just going to go further with this trade. Well, this year they made it to the conference finals and I was hoping maybe they lose again, but now they’ve made it to the finals before us. So, they’ve officially won the trade and it’s only going to get worse because I think they’re going to win it. And I mean, I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t devastating to some degree. Again, I talked about that for me personally, the community, you know, Clipper Nation, that’s what I look forward to now. have lost a lot of the and maybe it’s partially because I do a job now talking about this team, but I don’t know if that’s it. Like I really don’t. I’m still a fan. I always tell all you I’m still a fan just like you. So that’s why I felt like it’d be disingenuous for me not to talk about this. Like I don’t think that I am the fan that I am if I’m not talking about the good and the bad with the Clippers. And yes, there’s a lot of bad sometimes, but there was a lot of good this year. And I think we overwhelmingly had a positive season. But let’s put things into perspective a little bit for real. Let’s have the tough conversations that people don’t want to have. That’s what I’m here for. And you know, it’s okay to say that we lost this trade. It’s okay. And a lot of it’s bad luck. A lot of it’s bad luck. The fact of the matter is we lost it, but we had to do it. Now, you never know. We could come back and win the championship next year. I don’t think so, though. Just real just being honest. I just don’t think so. We’re older. They’re on the comeup. It is what it is. Now, I don’t think we’re too far from being a really good team again and even better than last year. Maybe make it to the conference finals. Maybe make it to the second round. Okay, conference finals. Maybe jump in the gun. Second round would be nice. Win a playoff series again. But compared to the Thunder who are like young and great, I mean it’s in it’s a tough it’s a tough scene. But we had to do it at the time. We had to do it. Looking at it hindsight in hindsight is going to mess with you a little bit. You’re going to get mad. I often get mad and I’ll talk about, you know, who should we blame going forward. What could we have done differently in that situation situation? But we have to remember that silly trade graphic that always comes up, which by the way isn’t even Yeah. That tra trade graphic that always comes up, the Paul George for everybody, it lacks a lot of context. A lot of context. Because Kawhi Leonard told the Clippers allegedly that I want to come here, but I want to come here with a second star. So, I know that if I’m leaving a championship situation in Toronto and I’m declining a championship situation with Anthony Davis and LeBron James across the hall, you got to give me a guy that I can trust with a star reputation. So, Paul George, when you put up that graphic against Sheay Gallow, the 2022 first round pick, a Miami Heat 2021 first round pick that we had acquired, a 2020 I said the 2022 first round pick. The Miami Heat 2023 first round pick ended up getting pushed to 2025 and then 2023 first round pick a swap with us that didn’t even convey by the way. So you should take that away from the graphic completely. It just didn’t happen. And then 2024 first round pick from us unprotected. And then this year, the pick swap that I’ve referenced all season long and a 2026, I don’t know if that’s an eight or a six. I think it’s 2026 first round pick for Paul George and Kawhi Leonard. Not just Paul George. Those were the conditions to get Kawhi. And when you have a guy who is the reigning finals MVP and arguably the best player in the world, saying he’s willing to come to the most unlucky and at one point the worst franchise in American sports, you do whatever you can to make it happen. Especially when he’s holding the Lakers above your head and saying, “Look, I could build a super team with the Lakers across the hall and then you guys best player will be Lou Williams and SGA while we’re selling out the building and are the talk of the town again, winning titles and you are nobody again. Not nobody, but you know, you’re just whatever. You’re the B team. Nobody cares. That was a tough thing. If you’re the Clippers, you have to make it happen. You’re getting Kawhi Leonard in his prime. And I have to say, I mean, I was ecstatic when it happened. Ecstatic. And I even said, you know, Paul George, by the way, coming off the best regular season of his career, third in MVP voting. Now, he did have a not so great series against the Blazers, although statistically it looks better than it actually was, but he didn’t have a great series. However, third in MVP voting and he had to have shoulder surgery. It’s not like he was fully healthy in that Blazers series. So, I at that point said, even though I was a little skeptical on Paul George’s playoff history, and I’ll talk about that more in a second, I was like, SJ is going to be great, but he’ll probably I don’t know if he’ll have a better career than Paul George. I mean, obviously, I was wrong about that. MVP of the league and he’s about to lead us team to a ring. So, it is devastating in that regard and it’s okay to acknowledge that. Like, it sucks to see SGA like this. He was the best pick we made since Blake. We saw it. Like, did I ever think he would be this? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. And I think anyone that says he thought he could be this, show me the receipts if you thought that. But I will say that I think a lot of Clipper fans could see this is an all-star caliber guy. And Glenn Rivers was very hard on him. he would take him out went make you know made a after making a couple of mistakes he had a relationship with Avery Bradley in the beginning of the season he was playing him more and uh with Lou and Bev already playing I think he like sham it off the ball a little more as well so it kind of hurt SJ’s minutes a little bit but you could see the potential the footwork the mid-range the ability to just play at his own speed and still be able to kind of get what he wanted one-on-one that was there from year one and his size you know he’s a 66 guard point guard really in terms of again everybody The designation of a true point guard doesn’t really exist anymore. Now it’s a lot of score first point guards. But in terms of ball handling and decision-m SGA he’s very I mean he’s fantastic. So it’s tough. You know it really is tough but we had to do it because it’s not just the Paul George trade. It’s the Paul George and Kawawaii trade and we needed to get Kawhi Leonard in that moment. I stand by that especially when the alternative was he stays in Toronto when you miss a golden opportunity and like look we would we don’t know like we didn’t know that SGA would be this so you can’t say that that would be like a solid decision when you have a chance to get Kawhai to just stay put absolutely not don’t let him go to Toronto when he doesn’t want to be there don’t let him go back to Toronto when he doesn’t want to be there long term and you can’t let him go to the Lakers I mean you can’t but coming up should we be mad at anyone about the fact that we’re in this position. Gonna be talking about that coming up because I think it’s a good debate. I got to tell you a little something about Door Dash. NBA fans, you know what time it is. Playoff season means big performances and even bigger rewards. 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When any player scores 50 plus in a playoff game, Dashpass members can grab a free threepiece crispy tenders combo from Wingstop the next day with a $20 plus order and code Wingtop 50. That’s Dash Pass. Your door to more savings, more flavor, and more ways to win. Terms apply. All right, before we play the blame game, actually, no, let’s just get into it. Bear with me, Clipper Nation. This is therapy. The Oklahoma City Thunder team comes down to more than just our trade. Of course, we’ve caused the centerpieces of it, but there’s a lot of factors that go into it. You know, the brilliance of Sam Prey, the amazing coaching of young Mark Dagnold, the picks that they’ve made that it goes back to Prey, but you know, Chad Hongren, that was their natural pick. You know what I’m saying? They weren’t good. So, they got Chad Homegrren in the 202 draft. Yeah. And then you have guys like Lou Door. I mean, these are good. Boo, by the way, he’s so ridiculous. But they just built a good roster. So, it comes down to Prestige, the coaching as well and all that. But yeah, I mean SGA is the guy. Now you got to look at how could we have avoided this situation. Well, is it Lawrence Frank or is it Kawhai? Probably a little bit of both. If you’re Lawrence Frank, everybody can say he shouldn’t have given up so much. Well, how do we know what was being said in the negotiation room? What if OKC was saying, “We’re not making this deal unless you give us SGAA.” What if that was part of the plan? We don’t know. You know, of course, there’s so many picks involved in the deal as well. I mean, that’s a boatload. We’re talking Miami Heat’s 2021 unprotected firstrounder, our own unprotected first rounders in 2022, 2024, and 2026, and a pick swap, which ended up only being 2025. And then they got the Heats first rounder this year. That’s the 15th pick in the draft. That’s a lot of stuff, but we don’t know what was being said in the negotiation room. So, as far as I’m concerned, we needed to do all this to get Kawaii on this basketball team. And Paul George, I mean, you can’t tell me you thought that was bad at the time. You know what I’m saying? Everybody thought we were about to win a ring. Every Clipper fan thought we were about to win at least one ring. I don’t know one that I met ever that thought we weren’t going to win at least one ring when we got Kawaii. So, we had to do it. We had to do it. But here’s the thing. That’s me defending Lawrence Frank on this to a degree. Actually, I think Lawrence Frank has made some terrible moves after. Like for example, in the 2023 draft, the fact that we tried to get Eric Gordon to save our season and then we ended up losing the pick that ended up being Cam Whitmore. That’s devastating. Absolutely devastating because it would have been nice to have Cam Whitmore right now for some athleticism and a young player. But Lawrence Frank, could he have called Kawhai’s bluff? You see a lot of people say that he was never going to go to the Lakers and play second fiddle to LeBron and he did not want to go to the rap back to the Raptors and that that may be true. And if that’s the case, Lawrence Frank should have probably held his ground. But in my opinion, for those that are saying he shouldn’t have tried to get Kawhai, I just don’t agree. I just don’t agree. You had to have gotten Kawawaii. If Kawhai wants to be an LA Clipper, you do it. You have to do it. You have to get do whatever it takes to get get it done for this fan base. And I respect Lawrence Frank for going forward and doing that. He got Kawhi Leonard, the reigning finals MVP, to choose the Clippers over the Lakers. That was a statement in NBA history. That was a statement that will change our history forever. And for that, I will always thank Kawhai. Truly, I will always thank Kawhai for that. However, Kawhai also there was a level of he knew that the Clippers don’t have the storyried history of the Lakers. He can get what he wants here. he can kind of, you know, dictate what he wants to happen because he made the choice of coming to the Clippers. He’s put in the faith in this franchise and he’s the most high-profile player in terms of winning and accomplishments that we’ve ever had choose us in free agency or really ever had, period. So, he he knows with the Lakers, he’s just one of the greats, if he even accomplishes that. with the Clippers. Hey, make a couple LNBA appearances, take the team to the playoffs, you’re already one of the best Clippers of all time, you know, let alone the expectation he came with. He’s probably like, I’m you I don’t think he cares about like being the Clipper GOAT, but he’s probably he knows that with the Clippers, you’ll have more power. And we have honestly bent over backwards for him in the last couple of years with the way we have handled the news that comes out of his, you know, for for the injury news where he with everybody else, we seem to know what’s going on, but for him it’s all mysterious. That’s obviously because his camp probably doesn’t want I don’t know if it’s his camp or the Clippers P uh Clippers that don’t want stuff to come out in terms of like how severe his injuries were. And of course, I’ve had done episodes, you know, in the past talking about all the times they’ve like lied to the fans essentially about his injuries or the severity of them or the timetable, just not saying anything to fans. Uh the stuff that, you know, Kawawaii has resigned with this franchise for a reason. He clearly feels like they’ve done him well and they’ve promoted him well and they’ve really backed him. I mean, they’ve put the faith in him year after year of doing the if Kawawaii is healthy thing. They resigned him last year after like a small like he he played like half the season or a little over half the season healthy and they just resigned him big contract 50 million a year. So the Clippers have done and the load man they’ve done whatever with his body you know it seems like Kawhai’s team and the Clippers have a pretty good relationship. So the Clippers have done well by Kawhai at least in my opinion. They’ve gone to him as point guards that he’s wanted. For me, I I honestly don’t blame Lawrence Frank at all. The Clippers had to get it done. I think Kawhai, and I always said it from day one, and this is where people say I’m a Kawawaii hater and all this BS. I just care about the Clippers. And I had a strong take on that Paul George in the two years. You can go back there. That’s why I was so freaking mad in that original video that everybody saw me on after the bubble because I wanted Kawhai badly. When we got Kawawaii, I was screaming. But when I saw the Paul George thing, I was like, “Okay, that’s awesome.” But damn, that’s a lot. And I really like SGA and of course Gallow was great. But yes, I still stood by it. However, in my opinion, and this was me still when I was back when I was the optimistic Clipper fan. Still remember after the 2020 bubble, I’ve never been no optimistic Clipper fan anymore. Actually, no, it was 2023. I regained optimism in 2021. 2023 is like what zapped me. But anyway, when we made that run in 2019, or not a run, but had a 48 and 34 record, I was like, dude, if we could just add one superstar to this, we are going to be in the mix. especially if KD leaves Golden State. So, all I wanted was if you throw Kawawaii on the clips with Pat Bev, SGA, Gallow, and the Zoo, that’s your starting five off the bench. Sweet Lou, Jamaichel Green, Montres, Landry Shamut, and Mo Harkas. Let’s go. Like, that’s just how that’s probably not a championship team, but that was my mentality. Like, let’s go. Like, that’s it. Like, just add Kawhi to a 48 win team. SGA is a young player. Let’s do this. Kawhai obviously wasn’t hyped on the 2019 Clips like that. He wanted that second star. Here’s why I have a problem, dude. If you really want to win so bad, stay in Toronto. You can’t like you come to the team that you want to go to and then you want these things on top of that. It’s like, bro, if you’re going to be here for the long haul, we can adjust after year one. Come see. You’re choosing us in free agency. You’re choosing. We have a 48 win team, a group of good guys. Like, you’re hurting the near future of this team just assetwise because you want Paul George. And I know he might not have been his first choice, but Paul George like you really thought all that was worth it for a guy who just in the playoffs flamed out like that twice in a row. He hadn’t made it past the first round since 2014. That’s where I have a problem. He’s just he’s doing the the Le GM thing. He’s doing the GM stuff. Like Kawaii’s basically like blackmailing us in my opinion. So that’s one thing that I could have never gotten over. Like you essentially made us trade the farm for another star when you could have come. Maybe we lose the first year. Will you figure out what to do in year two? You’re here for the long haul or not. It’s like people are like you can’t waste years of his legacy. Miss me with that BS. I’m not here for that Like I’m here for the Clippers. So like people might say that’s selfish, but like I’m sorry. I don’t want to give up all our assets for Paul George when it felt like we were one star away. How about having some confidence in your own abilities? How about having some confidence in your own abilities? Lou Williams was playing like a star. Anybody that says otherwise is tripping. He was playing like a complete star in 2019. Is he a second option on a championship team? Probably not. And here’s the thing, SJ probably would have still gotten traded, but at least he could have upped his value in the following year because he’s still a good player that was growing. So, doing all that coming like I I can’t come unless I get another star already off the bat when you’re choosing if you want to play with stars, go to the Lakers. like it’s just too much, you know? It’s too much. So, hey, we we made our bed, now we’re laying in it. So, SGA, Kawaii, he’s probably not even watching. Like, oh man. And then, of course, there’s all of its bad luck. Like, if Kawaii was healthy in 2021, we’d be having a completely different conversation. So, coming up, I’m going to be talking about the actual long-term implications of the trade. My takeaway here though is I blame Kawawaii more than Lawrence Frank. Players didn’t just come and say, “I need a second star upon arrival.” What is this, man? you had a championship team in Toronto and you left. So like you making demands, we caved on those. I still would do it because he’s Kawaii, but like he sunk us to a large degree. He sunk us right now with that demand. Now coming up the long term, how’s the trade looked? What does it become? All right, so let’s look at how the trade looks now. Overall, we got Paul George and Kawaii. What do we get out of that? Well, three overall series wins, which was as many as Lob City. The difference with Lob City, why it felt like it was more was because it was three different years where we won one series, where with and one of the series we won in the 213 era was in the bubble. So, we didn’t really feel that as fans the same way. So 2021 and in 2021 the first round was cardboard cutouts and I was at every single one of those home games but yeah I’d be lying if it felt like it was the same. Now the second round that felt special that last game but three series wins and the best season in franchise history 2020 2021 Clippers conference finals broke the second round curse. one of the greatest moments of my life as a sports fan. As as corny as that sounds, but it was. And I’ll forever be grateful for Paul George more than anyone, honestly. Paul George in that run. He was the man. And I will never take that away from him. He’s one of the greatest Clippers of all time for that. You know, BS aside, podcast P, we make fun of him. Yes, he’s a ridiculous for leaving. We dodged a bullet with that with not paying him, though. But he was special for us in that run. And then Kawhai, you know, we don’t get past that first round without his brilliance. That player that we were seeing, that looked like the best player in the world. 2021 Kawawaii in the playoffs. It’s a damn shame because oh my god, Joe Engles. Oh my god. Nobody saw that. Nobody heard that. But, you know, we were all thinking it. So, Joe Engles just sucks. But I also think, you know, I don’t think he was trying to hurt him intentionally like that. I don’t think it was that dirty. So, it was just unfortunate, you know, tore his ACL, which ruled him out for the next year, which is another year of like Kawawaii’s prime or an allNBA level guy cuz when he came back in 2023, amazing stretch, those first two games against the Suns, like the bad luck has been endless. And then 2024, we know the rest. all NBA season knife, you know, flames out and we don’t get him the real version of him in that first round against Dallas. And then this past year, we got a good version of him, but we were just playing a very good Denver Nuggets team. And, you know, we didn’t get enough of the season built around our best player. You know, he only played 37 games. So, it’s just been a very unfortunate road. I think more than anything, it’s been bad luck for us guys. Another chapter of Clipper history marred by bad luck. And that’s what it mainly is. But dude, SJ was a beast. Kawhai should have been watching more basketball in 2018 19 in his off time. If dead ass if he was looking to leave to LA should have been watching some more basketball. That’s all I have to say about that because he said I don’t really watch other teams games. I watch film. Now let’s look at how the So that’s our side of the trade. We got Paul, we got Kawhai. They got Galinari who helped them in that first year very much make it to the first round and lose to the Rockets in the bubble. So like, eh, long term that didn’t do much for them. SGA next. I mean, look what he’s become. It stings. And also partially because I love the way he plays except for like the egregious foul baiting I don’t like. But the mid-range mastery, that’s my style. So like it’s devastating to see that. Uh he also uh worked with the same trainer I did when I was a kid. Um so that was something that like was a cool connection there. But the Miami Heat’s 2021 unprotected firstrounder ended up being Trey Man who’s not on the team now and they trade for him was for Gordon Hayward. So like that doesn’t mean anything. So okay, cool. Again, the 2023 first round swap didn’t even convey. So take that out of the equation. The 2022 unprotected firstrounder, as so many people know, ended up being Jaylen Williams taken that with the 12th pick because we were that eighth seed in 2022. So they ended up getting our pick. It was chat in the for their original pick and then Jay Dub. So I mean absolutely devastating. We basically built their team with Jayd Dub and Shay. So that sucks. But here’s the thing. There’s no guarantee we would have picked Jub because we don’t know our our draft history is not great besides Shay in recent history or actually in NBA history. you know, Blake Griffin was a good pick. And then the unprotected firstrounder in 2024 ended up being traded to Dallas for a 2028 first round pick swap. So that’s the between OKC and Dallas now, a 2028 first round pick swap. So, you know, we’ll see how that that means nothing for us at this point. And then the Heat’s 15th pick is now going to the Thunder this year and they’re going to swap with us. So they’ve got and then next year they have an unprotected firstrounder. So like it’s very very tough. They have So we we’re we’re picking 30th and they’re picking 24th. So, cuz we were a 50- win team. So, they’re picking 24th and they’re picking 15th. So, yeah, guys, it is what it is. We have to find a way to pivot out of this mess. Uh the good news is it’s just this year and next year. And after that, we can move on from the picks that we gave OKC. the picks that we give Philly, that’s another conversation. But my overall takeaways are that we had to do it. We had to do it. It’s easy to say in hindsight now with what SJ’s become, but we had to do it. In my opinion, Kawhai shouldn’t have been that greedy. I know we got that 2021 Paul George and you can’t guarantee more years of your career. Like, you never know what could happen in terms of injuries, but man, everything’s happened and he’s still going. So, I don’t know. I just thought that like if LeBron James, who’s trying to be the GOAT, can come to his organization, the Lakers, and come with young players, and like take a year to figure it out. You don’t need to come with the current like I need to win right away thing. Like, our team was good. Have some confidence in yourself. That’s all I have to say. Now, Kawhi Van’s going to hate in the comments, but I don’t really care. The uh you can follow me on Twitter and Instagram at Dimeropper Pod. Subscribe to my own YouTube channel, Dimeropper, for even more LA Clipper and LA sports content and NBA content. And Lockdown Clippers is free and available wherever you get your podcast, including YouTube. Make sure you subscribe. I see the view count’s been getting small lately. Maybe that’s on me. Let me know what you think I could do better, better topics. If you want a mailbag episode, let’s ask a bunch of questions in the comments section. Let me know and then I’ll do better. The age old proverb continues. Go Clippers.

Did the Los Angeles Clippers make a mistake trading Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for Paul George and Kawhi Leonard? As the Oklahoma City Thunder clinch their second-ever Finals berth, Clippers fans are left questioning the long-term impact of this blockbuster trade.

Explore the intricate details of the Clippers-Thunder trade, including the roles of Kawhi Leonard and Paul George in reshaping the franchise’s future. Host Darian Vaziri examines the necessity of the trade at the time, the influence of Kawhi’s demands, and the evolving dynamics within the Clippers organization. Key figures like Lawrence Frank and Sam Presti are discussed, offering insights into the decision-making process and its repercussions.

Join the conversation to uncover whether the Clippers’ gamble paid off or if the Thunder’s success with SGA signals a missed opportunity. Listen now for an in-depth analysis of the Clippers’ strategic moves and their implications.

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