The 2019 Paul George Trade – Where are the Assets Now? A Full Breakdown
Hello all, welcome back. Six years ago, a trade came out of Los Angeles that would shake up the league and its future, creating future champions in the City of Angels and setting the start of a yearslong dynasty.
That trade was the Anthony Davis trade.
Another trade came out of Los Angeles that year, however, that also shook up the league, defined future championship rosters, and dynasties. The Paul George trade. A trade so massive that, even six years after the fact, we still talk about it on a regular basis. Today, we’ll be going over the trade, where the assets are now, how they fared, who the draft picks became, and just who the Clippers voluntarily missed out on for the chance to acquire Paul George.
Clippers Recieve:
Paul George
This was the one and only asset the Los Angeles Clippers acquired in this trade, and at the time, the face of the trade. Of course, Paul George was a great player, and continued to be very, very good in Clipperland. George ended up spending five years in LA before moving to Philadelphia in 2024 free agency. Let’s break down exactly how he fared in those five years – individually.
3x All-Star
1x All-NBA (Third)
23.1 PPG
263 Games Played
These are about middle of the line numbers for a star player – about what you’d expect from a Paul George across five years. But look at that last stat. 263 games looks good, but it’s across five seasons. Now 82 x 5 is 410, but let’s account for the two shortened seasons due to COVID. We get a possible 391 games played, which means Paul George only played 67% of the possible games he could have.
You can’t blame the Clippers for not being able to foresee these issues, however. Up to this point in his career with the Pacers and Thunder, George had played over 60 games in every season of his career, except the 2014/15 season, where he missed nearly the whole season with a freak compound fracture in his foot suffered in a Team USA scrimmage. After his first two years, he’d played over 75 games per season every year but 14/15.
However, once his Clippers tenure began, injuries came thick and fast. He missed lots of time with various shoulder, elbow, knee, ankle, toe injuries – basically every part of him broke down in LA. He didn’t play a single 75 or more-game season with the Clippers, with only one 74-game season in his last year with the team and a further two 50-game seasons.
Now, this would be the end of it, but as we all know, this trade wasn’t made just for George, but it was also one in a list of requirements for the signing of Kawhi Leonard, so you can as good as put him in as another asset gained by the Clippers in this trade (maybe). Unlike George, Kawhi is still with the team and entering his seventh year on the Clippers. He’s also had some more accolades to add to the list.
3x All-Star
3x All-NBA (First x1, Second x2)
2x All-Defensive (Second)
24.5 PPG
274 Games Played
Again, these are great numbers – expected from a Kawhi Leonard type player, but Leonard has only played 11 games more than George in over a season longer. Kawhi has had 493 games (and counting) that he’s been eligible in for the Clippers, and as a result has an absolutely dismal 55% of eligible games actually played in.
However, some of these numbers could be excused if it came with playoff success. The playoffs don’t require fitness for 82 games, so it could be perfect for the duo. Well, in their first year in the bubble, they beat a young Luka team in 6 in the first round, before going up 3-1 on Jokic’s Nuggets. Surely they were going to get to the conference finals to set up an all-LA matchup? Nope. They fumbled the last three games and were sent packing in seven.
Second year, they beat the Mavs again in seven, then the Jazz in six, and faced the inexperienced Suns in the Conference Finals. Would this be their year? Nope. Out in Six. The next year, Kawhi would miss the whole year and the Clippers would fall in the play-in. In 2023, with Kawhi back, they’d be back at the fifth seed, looking for revenge against the Suns – just to be gentleman’s swept. Finally, in 2024, they faced the Mavs in the first round again, surely they could win, but nope. The Kawhi-PG era ended at the hands of a loss in six to Dallas.
There’s no other way to put it. The era was a disaster for the Clippers. They failed miserably, and are now on the other end of an investigation by the NBA for the means by which they signed Kawhi. Now, let’s see exactly what they missed out on for no more than three playoff series wins.
Thunder Recieve
Danilo Gallinari
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Heat’s 2021 First
Clippers’ 2022 First
Clippers’ 2023 First (Swap)
Heat’s 2023 First (Lotto Protected)
Clippers’ 2024 First
Clippers’ 2025 First (Swap)
Clippers’ 2026 First
…Oh dear. This is a lot to look through. Let’s start by seeing how the players did. First, Danilo Gallinari. He played one year in OKC, here were his stats.
62 Games
18.7 PPG
5.2 RPG
1.9 APG
He then left to Atlanta, as part of a sign and trade in which the Thunder got back a measly 2025 second rounder. Not bad from the Clippers.
Next, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Just the 11th pick in the 2018 draft, going into his sophomore year at this point, averaged 10.8 PPG for the Clippers, and showed a little bit of promise, but probably won’t become too much, right? Well, here are his stats with the Thunder.
You really thought I was going to actually tell you his stats? We all know how incredible of a player Shai’s become in OKC, the leader of their new dynasty, 3x All-Star, the league’s defending MVP, and is looking very likely to win at least a couple more before his career’s out. He’s still only 26, is the leader of the league’s best team, and if it keeps going this way, exactly what is keeping him from getting into Top 10 of all time discussions?
In 10 years, this trade will be known not as the Paul George trade to new NBA fans, but as the Shai trade. The Clippers had that, a transcendent star, right on their hands, but fumbled it. However, this isn’t where the story ends, nowhere near. We still have six first round picks and one future pick to look at here. We now know who those picks ended up becoming, and we will see just who the Clippers missed out on, as well as other players available at those selections who the Clippers could have picked.
First off, the 2021 Heat pick ended up being Tre Mann. He’s never really ended up becoming much in the league so far, but available two selections after Mann who the Clippers could have picked was Atlanta’s Jalen Johnson. Johnson has improved so far in 25/26 and has ended up becoming the Hawks’ second in command as they look to challenge for playoff spots.
Then we get to the Clippers’ own 2022 pick, which became none other than Jalen Williams. Yep, not only the best but also the Thunder’s third best player came from this trade. Also available for the Clippers had they selected here was Jalen Duren, the Pistons’ rising star and early MIP favourite this season.
The 2023 Miami pick ended up being renegotiated between the Thunder and Heat. The pick was conveyed to 2025, which we’ll look at later, and the Heat ended up picking Jaime Jaquez Jr. with the pick. Jaquez is now the early 6MOTY favourite this season, and a crucial part of the Heat’s bench success. Crucially, Jaquez was picked outside of the lotto, which means the Clippers didn’t have to renegotiate with the Heat for this and could have picked him up had they kept the pick.
The 2024 pick wasn’t great – it ended up becoming Dillon Jones, but trying to find good players in the 2024 class is like trying to find diamonds in the bottom of your toilet. For most of these later selections, we likely won’t know just how good they are until they get settled into the league for a few years.
Similarly, the 2025 picks ended up becoming 15th Thomas Sorber and 24th Nique Clifford. Neither have had much time in the league at all, so we’ll have to see how they become.
However, the 2026 Clippers pick looks like it could be great. The Clippers are having a terrible year, and currently the pick is projected to become the 9th overall selection next June. We will have to see how that unfolds, but all in all, here are the overall results of the Paul George trade:
Clippers Recieve
Paul George
Signing of Kawhi Leonard
Thunder Recieve
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
Jalen Williams (Or Jalen Duren)
Jaime Jaquez Jr. (Or Nique Clifford)
Danilo Gallinari
Tre Mann (Or Jalen Johnson)
Dillon Jones
Thomas Sorber
Likely Top 10 Pick in 2026
Finally, to end this trade breakdown, here is what a 2025/26 Clippers Team could have looked like had they not done this trade:
PG: SGA
SG: James Harden
SF: Jalen Johnson
PF: Jalen Williams
C: Ivica Zubac
6M: Jaime Jaquez Jr.
You have the league’s MVP, a great contributor in James Harden who has great defenders surrounding him to pick up the slack, a great overall starting five with the best bench player in the NBA right now. On top of that, they have an average age of 26.8, and without Harden an average age of just 25. The Clippers absolutely would be set for the next five or more years, with a team that almost certainly would end up better than the Kawhi-PG team.
Another great fact is that not only did the Thunder reach the 2025 Finals by trading Paul George, but so did the Pacers. The Pacers got Domontas Sabonis from the Thunder for Paul George in 2017, who, six years later, they traded to Sacramento in exchange for their now-transcendent star, Tyrese Haliburton.
Moral of the story? Maybe sometimes it’s best to wait a few years and create a dynasty rather than go win-now, like so many teams fall into the trap of doing. Creating a great team isn’t something that can be done overnight, like the Clippers LITERALLY tried to do. The saying is that good things come to those who wait. The Thunder waited. The Clippers didn’t. I’m Jim James. Until next time.