Clippers Consideration of Paul George Trade in the Upcoming NBA Drafts

The Los Angeles Lakers could make the trade ahead of the NBA Drafts. According to the NBA reporter Mark Stein, there is a belief from some rival teams that Los Angeles is attempting to gauge Paul George's trade value and, to hear some describe it, giving consideration to the idea of  disassembling the Kawhi Leanord /George tandem”

This past season, Leanord suffered a Knee injury during the team’s first-round loss to the Suns, George missed the entire series with his own knee issue.

Mark Stein pointed to the Portland Trail  Blazer and Houston Rockets, who have the No.3 and 4 picks respectively in Thursday’s draft, as potential landing spots should the Clippers look to make such a blockbuster move. The Blazers have always struggled to find defensive-minded wings to pair with him., George would seemingly fill that hole, he and Lillard have a very complementary skill set.

As for Houston, it has some building blocks in place with Jalen Green and Jabari Smith Jr and George could be something of a veteran leader for the team under new head coach Ime Udoka.

The Clippers were the championship favorites when George and Leanord arrived, but the pair ultimately won only two playoff series together, with George carrying the Clippers to a third after Leanord got hurt in 2021.

Paul George who is 33 years old would definitely improve the Blazers in the short term, but he has a player option for the 2024-25 season. Portland could simply trade the No.3 pick for one year of George and then if the Blazers don perform up to the bar, he could opt out and join another team a year from now.

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