Paul George landed in Los Angeles the last offseason to join Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers, making the other Los Angelenos team instant contenders in the stacked Western Conference and the entire NBA. As we all know, things didn’t go as expected for the Clippers; they were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs by the Denver Nuggets, who returned from a 3-1 deficit in the Orlando bubble.
Even before that moment, the Clippers were said to have chemistry issues, especially with the treatment their two stars (George and Kawhi Leonard) were receiving from the team. Now we have found out that PG13 might have been the biggest responsible for the problems the Clippers had last season. During a recent edition of The Athletic’s NBA Show, Ethan Strauss revealed that the rest of the Clippers didn’t like the treatment for Paul George since they haven’t won rings as Kawhi has.
“I think the main issue might be not so much that Kawhi Leonard was getting preferential treatment, but that Paul George got escalated to the Kawhi tier. That seems to have resulted in a lot of resentment that Kawhi, whatever you think about him, people think he’s a little bit weird, so you get weird immunity. You get weird guy leeway. I think we all know that’s he’s a different dude, he’s top five different dudes. Paul George doesn’t have that rep, Paul George doesn’t have those rings and Paul George doesn’t have a Finals MVP. And so I think the other players, who were pretty good themselves, saw Paul George getting that treatment and that seems to have resulted in some angst.”
Kawhi was a quiet leader. He has never been vocal and that was visible during his first season with the Clippers. They needed a complete leader, one who could talk and hold everybody accountable. He hasn’t been that type of player but given the Clippers’ struggles last season, it’s time for Leonard to change his methods or the team will have to bring somebody else to put everybody on the same page when things aren’t going the right way.
PG wasn’t that dude either and when he tried to stand up and talk to his teammates, the reception wasn’t the desired. The Clippers have a lot to prove this upcoming season and without the help of these two, things are going to be very difficult for them.
