4. Kawhi Leonard and Paul George shake Los Angeles
As many of the top free agents of last summer’s class came off the market, the LA Clippers, the team who had put together as convincing a sales pitch as any the previous season with a competitive six-game playoff battle with Golden State, were coming up empty-handed.
Kawhi Leonard, their top target, was still making his decision, but LA didn’t appear to have any star to pair alongside the reigning NBA Finals MVP. In the age where the best are linking up more than ever, a running mate was the missing link for the biggest free-agent coup in franchise history.
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Clippers grabbed some spotlight
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It was this unfortunate predicament that looked to have Kawhi on his way to the Los Angeles Lakers, another in a long line of examples that saw the purple and gold flex their championship dominance over their Staples Center co-tenants.
Around the same time, the West Coast was dealing with the effects of an earthquake, those around the NBA had to deal with one on a similar scale.
Kawhi was headed to Los Angeles, but he was joining the Clippers. Joining him was Paul George, the same Paul George who had signed a four-year deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder the offseason prior, citing unfinished business with Russell Westbrook.
Like the Nets, it was the ultimate statement of work put in by the organization to re-brand decades worth of futility and embarrassment in a short amount of time, one that’s put them in as good a shape as ever to take home their first-ever championship.