Let’s not revise LA Clippers history with the Paul George trade

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has been phenomenal for OKC, but let’s not forget the trajectory the LA Clippers placed themselves on by trading him.

The necessity for this article shouldn’t exist. When the LA Clippers sent a Brink’s trunk full of assets to the Oklahoma City Thunder — highlighted by Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — in exchange for Paul George over the summer, few if any questioned the motives of an organization looking to positions itself for a championship.

Yet amid a rapid breakout sophomore campaign from SGA that now includes a recent 20-point, 20-rebound, 10-assists triple-double — making him the youngest player ever to do so — members of Twitter aren’t outright declaring a mishandle on the part of LA.

What they’re doing, however, is raising that question as a possibility, opening up the discussion to an alternate timeline when the Clippers move forward with SGA alongside Leonard instead of PG.

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No matter how bright Gilgeous-Alexander’s present or future is or whatever does — or doesn’t — come of this latest era for the Clipper franchise, to examine this trade now is to forget the circumstances that led to it.

Kawhi wanted to be a Clipper. But, like many superstars these days, he didn’t want to come alone, intent on having another star alongside him to shoulder the burden.

For everything he flashed across his rookie campaign en route to a spot on the All-Rookie second team, many believed SGA’s ceiling was still far out of reach, especially on a loaded Clipper roster.

It’s part of the reason he’s now thriving in Oklahoma City. Both his minutes and shots per game have increased and the Thunder, without preseason playoff aspirations, gave the Canadian the keys to the franchise under the tutelage of Chris Paul.

In LA, SGA would’ve taken a logical step forward in Year 2, but the 19.9 points per game he’s currently averaging would’ve been far out of reach for a team looking to build off its unexpected postseason appearance.

George, on the other hand, is 29 years of age coming off the best season of his career with top-three finishes in both MVP and Defensive Player of the Year voting.

There’s a reason he was the guy Leonard wanted to make his homecoming complete.

PG has been a star for over half a decade, the type who can lead a team to the playoffs by himself and combine with others to form a truly fearsome championship contender as he’s done in LA.

SGA is going to be a star for the Thunder. The five first-round picks — and two pick swaps — overflow OKC’s chest of assets. Danilo Gallinari can even be a valuable trade chip closer to the deadline.

Let’s not forget, though, that despite being just fourth in the Western Conference, LA is just a half-game out if second place as one of the favorites to take home the 2019-20 title.

This team reaches the halfway point of its season with a 28-13 record, all while dealing with the load management schedule of Leonard and a deep rotation that hasn’t been fully healthy for much of the regular season.

And after missing the first 11 games recovering from double offseason shoulder surgery, George has been just fine, shooting 39.5 percent from distance while averaging 23.5 points in just 30.7 nightly minutes.

It was a deal that made sense for a Thunder team looking to put an end to an era and a Clippers squad looking to jump start a potentially prosperous one of their own.

Independent on how it may look down the line, that’s the first — and quite frankly the only — point of order when looking back on this blockbuster that sent ripples across the league with endpoints unknown.