‘It Was Like Jordan-Pippen’: Tyronn Lue Backs Clippers In Trading Shai Gilgeous-Alexander For Paul George

Tyronn Lue claims he would have traded Paul George for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander even if he knew what a superstar he would become eventually.

4 Min Read

Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

The summer of 2019 drastically changed the future of the Clippers franchise when they decided to trade a massive overhaul of their draft assets and multiple players for Paul George

Unfortunately for the Clippers, they traded away a future MVP of the league in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as well, in the process, who had only played his rookie season so far in the league at the time. 

Nonetheless, their current head coach, Tyronn Lue, believes the Clippers took the right decision at the time and even he would do the same in their position, even with the hindsight that Gilgeous-Alexander will become an MVP-caliber player someday. 

In the recent interview with NFL legend Shannon Sharpe on the Club Shay Shay podcast, Lue spoke his mind on the trade. 

“No. No, I didn’t,” said Lue when Sharpe asked him if he had any idea Gilgeous-Alexander would be as good as he is today. 

“And we talk about it all the time… If it had been done all over again, I mean, I’d have done the trade too. PG was second in MVP voting. It was a two-way player; it was like Jordan-Pippen. You know what I’m saying?”

“And Shai was a really good, you know, young player, but you didn’t know he was going to be this, you know?” 

Lue argued that if Gilgeous-Alexander stayed with the Clippers, he would not have been the number one option like he was with the Thunder, and hence, without the ball as much in his hands, he would not have developed as well as he did. Therefore, leaving the Clippers was the best option for him, too. 

“And so he was able to grow and figure it out, have his own team. And like I mean, anything hindsight 2020, you can say, “Oh, I would have never done that.” But who wouldn’t have traded, you know, a first-year player for a guy like PG, you know, to team up with Kawhi, right?”

“Like anybody would have done that. They are lying if they say they wouldn’t have… that was a no-brainer to me.”

Lue was not with the Clippers at the time when they traded for Paul George in 2019. He replaced Doc Rivers at the helm just one season in 2020, one season after they traded for George. 

The former Thunder star, Paul George, was a six-time All-Star by the end of the 2018-19 season, when he averaged 28.0 points, 8.2 rebounds, and 4.1 assists. He was, in fact, third in MVP voting that season, behind Giannis Antetokounmpo and James Harden. He was one of the best two-way players in the league at the time. 

While Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 10.8 points, 3.3 assists, and 2.8 rebounds, and barely showed any glimpses of becoming the player that he is today. Therefore, it is understandable that George was considered a very valuable player at the time, and the Clippers had to offload an overhaul of assets to get him. 

But that trade completely shifted the standard of expectations in the trade market to sign a star player. And in hindsight, it is still considered one of the worst trades in NBA history

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Chaitanya Dadhwal is an NBA Analyst and Columnist at Fadeaway World from New Delhi, India. He fell in love with basketball in 2018 after seeing James Harden in his prime. He joined the sports journalism world in 2021, one year before finishing his law school in 2022. He attended Jindal Global Law School in Sonipat, India, where his favorite subject was also Sports Law.He transitioned from law to journalism after realizing his true passion for sports and basketball in particular. Even though his journalism is driven by his desire to understand both sides of an argument and give a neutral perspective, he openly admits he is biased towards the Houston Rockets and Arsenal. But that intersection of in-depth analysis and passion helps him simplify the fine print and complex language for his readers.His goal in life is to open his own sports management agency one day and represent athletes. He wants to ensure he can help bridge the gap in equal opportunity for athletes across various sports and different genders playing the same sport.
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