In 2019, the Los Angeles Clippers made the ultimate ‘win now’ move by sending Danilo Gallinari and a massive haul of picks to the OKC Thunder for Paul George. They also had to give up Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who has blossomed into one of the league’s best young players.
While it sucks for Clippers fans to see how good he is today, at the time, it was a highly praised trade for the Clippers, who had Kawhi Leonard ready to win it all. Even now, nobody is knocking the team for making that trade… but Doc Rivers did admit that he had some doubts about it.
As the head coach of the Clippers at the time, Doc had a lot of power on that team and was a crucial decision-maker in the SGA trade process. Ahead of his matchup against the OKC superstar, he looked back on the trade and shared his thoughts after initially making the deal.
“One of my favorite guys,” Rivers said. “Reminds me a lot of Tyrese [Maxey] just as far as his approach. He’s one of those young guys in his rookie year that you couldn’t coach enough. That loved being coached, overworked and stood for everything that’s good in the game. I say the same thing about Tyrese. I’ve had several those (type of players) but (Gilgeous-Alexander) stands out. Quiet demeanor but tough, and you knew this was coming. At least I did. I believe that. The day we decided to make that move when I was in L.A., I was not so sure about it — even though what we did was phenomenal, too. I kept thinking this kid’s gonna be special, and I’m really happy that he is because he’s a good kid.”
All things considered, the trade was a win-win for both sides. The Clippers got to pair two of the top wing talents in the league together, and the Thunder got their new franchise star out of it.
SGA Is A Future MVP Of The NBA
With averages of 30.8 points, 5.8 assists, and 4.8 rebounds per game on 49.9% shooting, Gilgeous-Alexander is having a monster breakout season and could be on track to secure his first All-Star selection.
“Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, let’s just call it what it is. He’s one of the best scorers in the league right now. He’s never made the All-Star Game, and we can go through some numbers, but this dude is an All-Star at least. He should probably be starting the game,” said NBA analyst Kirk Goldsberry. “I’ll give you just like a basic stat that we dug up on the research that it’s like out of sixty-two players that have averaged, at least, 30 points a game prior to the all-star game in the NBA history, 60 made the All-Star Game 54 of those started it.”
Whatever your feelings on the Clippers, the Thunder, or the famed Paul George trade, you have to admit that Shai is a generational talent. No matter what happens this season for the Clippers, his emergence as a top-tier star is going to haunt the franchise for years to come.
If they manage to end this era without a championship, fans will never stop holding SGA’s ascension over their head.
We sincerely appreciate and respect you as a reader of our site. It would help us a lot if you follow us on Google News because of the latest update.
Thanks for following us. We really appreciate your support.
