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This year the Los Angeles Clippers have surprised many NBA fans, as there was a long period of time that the team struggled to outperform their competitors. Recently, the team has made improvements. From 1998 through the 2010-11 season the Clippers only made the playoffs once. Now they have done so in the past seven out of eight years. Though the Clippers have yet to win a championship, this year the team has welcomed star players like Kawhi Leonard and Paul George which has now made them legitimate title contenders.
It wasn’t only fans that the Clippers shocked, they also took other NBA players by surprise. Per Tomer Azarly of Clutchpoints, while bike riding in San Francisco, Warriors star Draymond Green spoke to ESPN about what blew his mind this summer. Green answered, “the Clippers. Out of no where that happened.”
The Dynamic Duo
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Getty ImagesHead coach Doc Rivers, Paul George, Kawhi Leonard and owner Steve Ballmer of the Los Angeles Clippers
This summer the Los Angeles Clippers blew the minds of many when they acquired reigning NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard and six-time All Star Paul George. It seemed like overnight the Clippers became the favorites to win the title. This was not the case though.
It took a lot of work on the Clippers end to acquire such great basketball players. As Bleacher Report details, Clippers head coach Doc Rivers said that Oklahoma City Thunder originally declined the trade offer for George. Without George there was no hope in landing Leonard who was in free agency. If Leonard didn’t sign with the Clippers he was set on either staying with the Toronto Raptors or signing with the Clippers’ rivals, the Los Angeles Lakers. Rivers was not happy about Lakers being an option for Leonard.
“The Lakers part just threw me over. I told him that can’t happen. … I remember I kept telling him, ‘We cannot allow that to happen!’ I actually told [Clippers owner] Steve [Ballmer] jokingly that if that happens, we’re moving the team to Seattle. It was a joke, but I was actually serious about it. I really believed that,” Rivers said.
After multiple attempts to trade for George, the Clippers finally accomplished their goal with the trade of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and forward Danilo Gallinari. After the Clippers acquired George from their trade with OKC, Leonard was on board to sign with the team.
“We just showed him guys that we thought would match him and when he saw Paul George’s name he said, ‘I want to play with him.’ We showed him everybody else and he didn’t want to hear it. He just stayed on Paul George,” Rivers said.
The New and Approved Los Angeles Clippers
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GettyKawhi Leonard #2, Patrick Beverley #21, Paul George #13, Head Coach Doc Rivers, Montrezl Harrell #5 and Lou Williams #23 of the
The dynamic duo definitely played a huge role in making the Clippers the new favorites to take home the title, but they weren’t the only reason. The Klaw and PG-13 came to the Clippers and joined a solid group of teammates. The Clippers had also just resigned point guard Patrick Beverley and acquired forward Maurice Harkless from the Portland Trail Blazers.
Now, the team poses a serious threat with Leonard, George, Beverley, Harkless, Lou Williams, Montrezl Harrell and a championship winning coach in Rivers. It is clear that the Clippers obtain favorable chances to achieve great things this season and hopefully bring home a title.
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