Paul George is one of the most dynamic wings in the modern game. In his Podcast P with Paul George, the Pacers legend had Steve Ballmer, owner of the Los Angeles Clippers, as a guest. The duo talked about Paul George’s blockbuster trade that landed him with the Clippers. Ironically, the Las Vegas earthquake of 2019, happened the same day that the deal was finalized. The Clippers forward even credited his $66,393,121 deal as possibly having a role to play in the earthquake happening.
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Before being traded to the Clippers, Paul was signed to the Thunder for a 4-year, $136 Million deal. But after just playing one season of his contract with the Thunder, George was traded to the Clippers. The forward has since played two of the remaining three years of his contract with the Clippers and also chose to opt into his player option to play his fourth year as a Clipper. This has made the entire trade deal worth a whopping $66,393,121 in valuation.
Paul George celebrates trade to the Clippers on the same day as Las Vegas ‘earthquake’
While on the show, George spoke about how he found out about his trade to the Clippers. Narrating the story, Paul said, “When the trade went down, I was in Vegas. It was during the big Las Vegas earthquake. I like to say that I had a little bit to do with that earthquake“.
The 7.1 Richter scale earthquake was caused due to the fault line in Ridgecrest. The earthquake served as a reminder to all the people of Las Vegas that the valley has always been seismically active and this one wasn’t the last one of its kind.
The Clippers forward even went ahead and shared how he celebrated the news of being drafted to his childhood team. PG 13 Ballmer, “I remember when the trade went down and I was officially a Clipper for the first time. I was in Vegas at that time, and I had to go out and celebrate. I must have bought like 20 cigars, and I was handing them out to everybody, people I don’t even know. Lou Williams was in LA at that time. Pat Bev was in LA at that time. I went hard that night. I was a childhood Clippers fan, so the news just hit different“.
PG and the Clippers are looking forward to the 2023-24 season with aspirations of winning the Larry O’Brien
Paul George and Kawhi Le0nard haven’t had a fair shot at the title so far. Both the star players have either been injured or sidelined due to upcoming surgeries. The duo only played 38 regular season games last season. Kawhi has only played 26 playoff games during his time with the Clippers.
Now with Kawhi being ready to suit up next season and PG being available as well, the Clippers look like a complete squad for the first time in many years. Though the Clippers are not favored by Vegas to take home the trophy this season, Ballmer and his squad have been very vocal in their belief that a Championship is right around the corner for the franchise.
