Kawhi Leonard Tried To Team With Paul George Before 2019, NBA Star Pushed Spurs To Trade With Pacers

Kawhi Leonard wanted to join forces with Paul George long before he got the opportunity to do so this summer with the Los Angeles Clippers. The 2019 NBA Finals MVP tried to convince the San Antonio Spurs to trade for his new teammate when George was still with the Indiana Pacers.

"I was trying to get San Antonio to get him over to us,” Leonard told ESPN’s Rachel Nichols Wednesday after being asked when he first knew he wanted to play with George. “You know how things work with trades, he ended up to the Thunder. But that’s probably when the initial idea started, when he wanted to get out of Indiana."

George requested a trade from the Indiana Pacers after they were eliminated from the 2017 NBA playoffs. Oklahoma City gave up Victor Oladipo and Domantas Sabonis in exchange for George, even though the former Pacers’ star only had one year left on his contract.

It was well-known that George wanted to be traded to the Los Angeles Lakers at the time. Many assumed he would bolt to L.A. in a year as a free agent, but the forward didn’t even take a meeting with the Lakers in the summer of 2018, signing a four-year contract with the Thunder.

Oklahoma City was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs last season, failing to reach the second round in both years with George and Russell Westbrook on the roster.

Leonard only played nine more games with the Spurs after George was traded to the Thunder. He forced his way out of San Antonio last summer. The Spurs sent him to the Toronto Raptors. Leonard wanted to be dealt to one of the Los Angeles teams.

George finished third in the 2019 regular season MVP voting. Leonard was the best player in the playoffs, leading the Raptors to their first-ever championship.

Two years after the Spurs were unable to trade for George, the Clippers surrendered a record number of draft picks in order to finally pair the two stars together on the same team.