Doc Rivers Says He Questioned Kawhi Leonard On Clippers Trading SGA for Paul George
According to Doc Rivers, he saw Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s superstar turn coming before anybody else.
Rivers said he attempted to push back on the Clippers trading Gilgeous-Alexander to the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2019 as part of the trade that sent Paul George to Los Angeles.
“I even brought it up to Kawhi: ‘Are you sure?'” Rivers told Tim MacMahon of ESPN. “‘I think Shai’s going to be an amazing player. It may take a year or two, but I think you’re underestimating how good Shai’s going to be. I didn’t argue the decision or anything, but I brought it up. I just thought, is there any way we can do this deal without putting Shai in it?”
Kawhi Leonard would only commit to signing with the Clippers in 2019 if George came along, giving the Thunder significant leverage in trade talks. The Clippers wound up sending Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari, five first-round picks and two pick swaps to Oklahoma City in exchange for George.
Los Angeles traded for Gilgeous-Alexander in the 2018 NBA draft and Rivers started him in 73 games as a rookie, so there was clearly belief in the Kentucky product from the organization.
That said, it’s hard to fathom Rivers or anyone in the Clippers organization seeing Gilgeous-Alexander becoming a perennial MVP candidate and franchise cornerstone. Otherwise, the team simply would have found a different way to trade for George. The five first-round picks and two pick swaps was already an unprecedented haul; odds are, if Rivers was really passionate about Gilgeous-Alexander, there would have been an alternate route.
It’s been an interesting week for Rivers and his seemingly 100 percent hit rate behind the scenes. Rivers said he advised the Clippers to trade for James Harden this season and also said he told Milwaukee Bucks ownership he did not understand why they were firing Adrian Griffin.
Milwaukee is 3-7 since installing Rivers as Griffin’s replacement.
Former NBA guard JJ Redick, who played for Rivers for four seasons in Los Angeles, ripped his former coach on ESPN’s First Take this week for not taking accountability for his own failures.
“I’ve seen the trend for years. The trend is always making excuses,” Redick said. “We get it. Taking over a team in the middle of the season is hard. Just like getting traded in the middle of the season is hard for a player. But it’s always an excuse. … You look at his quotes over the weekend, and now he wants credit for the James Harden trade for the Clippers working out. He wants credit for that? There’s never accountability with that guy.”
The Redick comments wound up creating a firestorm on social media Tuesday, so it’ll be interesting to see if even more comments come out as Rivers again seems to put himself on the right side of history.
