Kawhi Leonard reportedly wanted to pair up with Kevin Durant in L.A., but once KD confirmed he was headed to Brooklyn instead, Leonard began recruiting Paul George.
Improbably, Kawhi and PG are now going be Clippers teammates.
The Lakers, meanwhile, were left stunned by the chain of events in this wildest of free agency periods.
Per ESPN:
Durant was flattered and more than a little stunned, according to sources close to the situation. He didn’t know Leonard that well, so getting a recruiting call like that made a real impression.
Leonard’s ambition in trying to recruit Durant to the Clippers suggested he was serious about joining LA in free agency. But it also suggested that they needed to get him another star. After the Clippers met with Leonard for approximately three hours at head coach Doc Rivers’ house in Malibu on Monday night, both sides went to work to make that happen. At the same time he was meeting with the Los Angeles Lakers and Toronto Raptors this week, Leonard was meeting, calling and texting with George, trying to convince him to find a way out of Oklahoma City.
Still, Leonard’s recruiting efforts caught George by surprise.
Said one source close to George, “For a quiet guy, he’s a hell of a recruiter.”
Related Report: Toronto, OKC Discussed a Trade for Russell Westbrook and Paul George
