The Paul George and Kawhi Leonard pairing came as a huge surprise this off-season, as the Los Angeles Clippers pulled off a blockbuster trade to acquire George shortly after reaching a deal with Leonard. As it turns out, PG and Kawhi have been trying to team up for years, back when George was still a member of the Indiana Pacers and Leonard a member of the San Antonio Spurs.
In a recent interview with ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk, George revealed that he had actually asked the Pacers for a trade to the Spurs back in 2017.
"I wanted to be traded to San Antonio," says George. "We wanted to go to San Antonio first, and we didn't make that happen."
According to Youngmisuk, San Antonio and Indiana discussed a potential deal for George, but the Spurs "lacked the assets" to make a move. As we know, George was ultimately traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder while Kawhi was later dealt to the Toronto Raptors.
The Los Angeles Lakers, a team that George was also interested in, never truly got in on the PG trade war and he says that was something that stuck with him when he became a free agent in 2018.
"As far as the Lakers, I wanted to go to L.A.," George said. "They didn't make that happen. They didn't put nothing together. So that's in the back of my mind [when I became a free agent]. That was in the back of my mind."
The Clippers are off to a 9-5 start with their All-NBA forwards this season, despite the fact that the superstar duo still have not shared the floor together. George just recently made his Clippers debut following a pair of shoulder surgeries, while Leonard has been sidelined for each of those three games with a knee injury.
Up next for the Clips is a home game on Wednesday night against the East-leading Boston Celtics, which will air on ESPN at 8pm ET.