Just a season after making a long-term commitment to the Oklahoma City Thunder, he was in Los Angeles following a blockbuster trade that saw him pair up with the reigning Finals MVP, Kawhi Leonard.
Kawhi was the one who set things in motion, calling on George to join him and the Clippers to trade for him. Of course, George didn’t take long to buy-in and, according to words by the star guard himself, there was more to it than basketball.
“[People] think it was a basketball move,” Paul George told Ramona Shelburne of ESPN. “And for a lot of reasons, it was a basketball move. But that’s not where it comes from.
“It was a lot deeper than me coming here for basketball reasons.”
Believe it or not, George grew up in Palmdale, California. He grew up watching L.A. players win and dominate for years.
He is living out a childhood dream right now while also getting to be in a place that he calls home. It’s as good an arrangement as you can get in the NBA and one that PG couldn’t pass up.
As he and Kawhi help the Clippers bring him their first-ever NBA Championship, both will be doing so on their own terms, in their own city. You can’t fault them for that.
