Paul George is now a Philadelphia 76er after having signed with them during the offseason. With this spelling the end of his time with the LA Clippers, ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith lamented the player’s time in California. And the newly minted 76er will not be happy to hear what he had to say.
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Smith refused to hold his tongue for a single second. Right out of the gate, he deemed George’s time with the Clippers a “colossal failure”. He then explained how Kawhi Leonard ‘blackmailed’ the franchise to sacrifice a lot of assets to acquire George.
“I think the way it [George and Leonard’s time with the Clippers] ended, punctuated how big of a colossal failure it was… He [Leonard] basically blackmailed the Los Angeles Clippers. He said, ‘You want me? I need you to trade the farm, do all of this to get Paul George. Otherwise, I’m going to play with LeBron James and Anthony Davis in Los Angeles. That’s what he did.”
Stephen A. then highlighted the fact that the team failed to make much noise at all in the West, failing to even make a single NBA Finals appearance during the ‘Kawhi-PG’ era.
“Not only do you not get to a NBA Finals, not only do you just get to one conference finals, not only did you go to that Western Conference Finals without Kawhi Leonard, who had got hurt the series before against Utah, but on top of that, Kawhi Leonard is perpetually injured, end up missing 60% of your playoff games, he doesn’t do a damn thing to promote the franchise or the market…”
.@stephenasmith says the PG-13-Kawhi era in Los Angeles was a "colossal failure." 😳 pic.twitter.com/Fmgcx1IEQl
— First Take (@FirstTake) July 1, 2024
Smith then went on to highlight just how illogical it was that not only did the LA Clippers extend him once, but twice, despite his injury history. In the end, he held the LA Clippers more accountable than anyone else, for letting this go on for so long and failing to get anything in return for Paul George.
Despite his words seeming harsh at first, it is very difficult to disagree with Stephen A. Smith. Few franchises have underperformed as much as the Clippers did during this era of theirs. After all, this team was supposed to compete for an NBA championship. Instead, they never even made it to the NBA Finals.
Paul George’s move has marked the end of an incredibly disappointing time in Clippers basketball. Unfortunately for the franchise, however, with Leonard still on the team despite his injury woes, alongside known playoff underperformers James Harden and Russell Westbrook, there is likely more misery to come.
