HotelVitale wrote:DonaldSanders wrote:I hated this trade at the time, the whole idea that Kawhi would refuse to go to LA if they didn't get PG was BS, Kawhi wanted to go to LA. He just used his leverage and got what he wanted -- classic don't let the players be your GM move. I really doubt OKC would have required as much as they did, they just felt they had leverage over LA. Add the injury potential for Kawhi, and it was a clear overpay at the time.
I always hate this take, just seems like hindsight talking. Kawhi or PG (or both) could've ended up on the Lakers, for one, and even if at the time part of you thought it'd be a good idea to hold out, all the 'I'll wait and call your bluff' things are a lot harder to pull off when you're facing down losing a $100 bill because you're clinging to a couple $5s and $10s. The big thing here is just that injury luck for the Clips was about as bad as it couldve been, and the picks and player(s) the Clips traded happened to turn into absurdly great things, definitely as good as they could've realsitically been. Nut no one on the planet would've realistically slotted their value as that at the time--it was just as possible that the solid young player and decent pick became like Dyson Daniels and Jae Crowder or something like that, as it was that it became MVP-level SGA and Jalen Williams. Sometimes you lose good gambles.
Also if you're calling this a wild overpay then you have to say the same thing about every star trade that did work out. Was the Lakers AD trade a total folly? The price was at least as much as this PG one (much less if you consider Kawhi part of that), and AD was injury prone as well. How about CP3 to the Clippers? That one's an interesting contrast, because Eric Gordon (a legit young star at trade time) happened to suffer more injuries, and the very good pick traded in that deal happened to get used on Austin Rivers. The Pels got bad luck with the guys they got in that deal, so it was a steal for the Clips in retrospect. The exact opposite of what's happened with the Clips with the PG-Kawhi thing.
I said it at the time, so it's not hindsight. I think the Clippers overpaid to guarantee Kawhi, in the end nobody will ever know, we're all guessing. I also didn't say it was a wild overpay, just to me it was clearly an overpay. A lot of people said it was an overpay for PG at the time, but they said that balanced out the overall situation by getting Kawhi. I just think the Clippers could have played a bit more hardball to get a better outcome, just as I think Ainge would have let Gobert go for 1 less 1st.
I could be wrong, that's just how I saw it then and I don't have a change to my view now.
