Ty Lue defends Clippers' decision to trade Shai Gilgeous-Alexander for Paul George

As the Oklahoma City Thunder celebrated the final seconds, an NBA championship officially sealed the deal — the 2019 Paul George blockbuster trade has gone down as one of the more lopsided transactions in league history.

The Thunder had one of the greatest years ever with a historic 68-14 regular-season record and a Larry O'Brien trophy. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander brought home the MVP trophy and Jalen Williams broke out with first-time All-NBA honors.

Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams headlined one of the most dominant teams ever. Both were also acquired from the same trade package. Gilgeous-Alexander was shipped to OKC in the 2019 trade with the LA Clippers. Williams was later added with a gifted lottery pick from LA in 2022.

Six years later, and we're still seeing the fallout of the seismic move. The Thunder still own first-round draft pick rights/swaps with the Clippers. That's even after they accelerated past their rebuild and became a possible dynasty within three seasons. Poetically enough, they accomplished the goal LA sought out when it mortgaged its future with a championship.

Meanwhile, the Clippers' heights in the Leonard-George era were a sole Western Conference Finals appearance. Falling dramatically short of their ambition to be an NBA champion, with several other deep playoff runs involved. George's 2024 departure slammed shut their championship window.

Now, the Clippers are stuck in no-man's land. Sure, they have household names with Leonard and James Harden and could turn in another fun season, but they likely won't go far in the playoffs. After all, they were eliminated in the First Round of these past playoffs with a healthy Leonard.

Appearing on Shannon Sharpe's podcast, Clippers head coach Ty Lue reflected on the 2019 headline deal. He was an assistant coach for the first season of the Leonard-George era before being promoted to LA's head coach since.

Lue — like everybody else — had zero idea Gilgeous-Alexander would blossom into one of the best players in the league. Nobody could've seen that unlikely superstar trajectory. After all, he had a modest rookie campaign and was just the No. 11 pick of the 2018 NBA draft.

"No," Lue said. "No, I didn't. And we talk about it all the time... if it would've been done all over again, I would've done the trade too. Like, PG was (third) in MVP voting, a two-way player, it was like Jordan and Pippen. Shai was a really good young player, but you didn't know he was gonna be this."

Lue later said he thought it was the best move for Gilgeous-Alexander. If he had stayed with Leonard, he wouldn't have enjoyed the same luxuries he had on the Thunder. There'd be no room for him to grow as the top option, considering the Clippers needed to win right away to justify the gamble.

"I think it was the best thing for Shai," Lue said. "Because if Shai would've stayed with the Clippers, he wouldn't be this. He was able to grow and figure it out, have his own team."

All that said, Lue defended the Clippers' decision to trade for George. He argues that, considering the circumstances at the time, it was the right move to make. While that might be true, there's no denying just how badly the deal has aged, with it gardening the NBA champion that could eventually win more titles.

“Hindsight is 20/20, and it’s easy to say, ‘Oh, I wouldn’t have done that.’ But who wouldn’t have traded a first-year player for a guy like PG to team up with Kawhi? Anybody would have done that," Lue said. "You’re lying if you say you wouldn’t have. Now, if Shai was Shai now, it’s not a question. But that was a no-brainer for me.”

This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Ty Lue defends Clippers' decision to trade SGA for Paul George