In a segment on the Bill Simmons podcast, the NBA insider proposed a theory to explain why the Clippers parted ways with Paul George this summer. According to Simmons, the Clippers lost faith that Kawhi could stay healthy and did not want to get stuck paying out a massive contract for his sidekick.
“I actually think they knew Kawhi’s knees were fu****, and that’s why they didn’t want to give Paul George all that money,” Simmons said. “I think that especially when you think like he goes to the Olympic team. They kind of gently sent him packing in a couple of days, and it’s like, ‘Yeah, Kawhi’s decided to drop out.’ They fu***** pushed his a** out. Like they were, ‘We need 12 guys, and you cannot, you’re not in shape to play, and we don’t think you’re going to be healthy.’ It’s sad, but at the same time, he won a title and made a ton of money. He had a really interesting career, and he’s gonna be a Hall of Famer. It’s still a bummer. We just never got to see it for an extended stretch with the Clippers.”
Paul George signed a 4-year, $212 million deal with the 76ers this summer and it was a shocking development for the 34-year-old swingman. He specifically forced his way to the Clippers and now he’s leaving five years later with nothing to show for it. But, like many critics, Bill Simmons doesn’t think George’s departure was of his own making. Rather, it was the Clippers pushing him out in response to Kawhi Leonard.
When Kawhi first arrived in 2019, he was supposed to be the one who broke the cycle of losing for the Clippers. Coming off a championship run with the Raptors, Kawhi was considered the best two-way player in the game and expectations were high when he first joined forces with Paul George in Los Angeles.
Sadly, Kawhi’s Clippers tenure has been marred by injuries, and even when he has been healthy, he often skips out on games in an effort to preserve and prolong his good health. Kawhi has missed 14+ games every season since becoming a Clipper and there was a stretch where he only played 104 games combined over three full seasons.
With averages of 23.7 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game in the 2023-24 campaign, Leonard’s stats have dipped of late but he did manage to play 68 games– his highest mark since 2017.
Things took another bad turn for Kawhi in the summer, during the Paris Olympic Games. He was a late scratch in the tournament due to an ongoing knee problem and he’s been working on getting it back to full strength ever since.
Clearly the Clippers don’t believe that Leonard’s needs will hold up through this season and it’s why they’ve managed to build a deep yet financially flexible roster. If Leonard goes down, they can lean on James Harden to step up and lead a cast of mid-level veterans that includes Norman Powell, Terance Mann, Nic Batum, and others.
That should be enough to get the Clippers a top-six spot in the West but it remains to be seen if they can make a lengthy playoff run with just two stars leading the show. At the very least, they’ll need Kawhi at full strength to have a chance at winning the championship and the Clippers are desperate to achieve something while they still have an elite-level talent in his prime.
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