The Boston Celtics caught plenty of heat for trading Jaylen Brown to get Paul George, and for good reason: from a pure talent standpoint, they were getting a player who is not the same force he once was. But as rough as that move looked, it still doesn’t rank as the worst Paul George trade ever.
That distinction belongs to the Los Angeles Clippers.
Los Angeles took the bigger hit because the George deal didn’t just cost them draft capital from 2022 to 2026. It also sent Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to Oklahoma City, where he has since helped the Thunder win a title and keep rolling.
In hindsight, that already made the trade look ugly. At the time, though, George was coming off a year in which he finished top-3 in MVP voting, so there was no way to know just how good SGA would become.
Now the whole thing looks even worse.
The NBA has finally handed down punishment to the Clippers for the Kawhi Leonard-Aspiration scandal, and ESPN’s Shams Charania laid out the damage. The league stripped the franchise of 5 first-round picks, fined owner Steve Ballmer $30 million, and handed out suspensions for Ballmer, Lawrence…
That fallout matters for Boston too, because the Celtics are owed a draft swap from the George trade they made two months ago. But the bigger picture is brutal for the Clippers: their George deal helped set up the Leonard move in the first place, and now the consequences keep piling up.
They don’t land Kawhi without George, since George was part of the package. That chain reaction has left the Clippers paying for decisions made more than seven years ago, and the result is a franchise with fewer picks, a massive fine, and a future that looks a whole lot bleaker than Boston’s.
The Celtics may never feel great about turning Brown into George. Still, compared with what the Clippers have done to themselves, Boston can at least point to one thing: their long-term outlook remains bright. The Clippers’ does not.
In Other News...
Celtics Fans Have A New Reason To Watch That Future Clippers Pick
The NBAs punishment of the Clippers for circumventing the salary cap has added a fresh layer of intrigue for Celtics fans, especially when it comes to a future first-round pick Boston already had a reason to track. Los Angeles was docked first-round selections for five straight years beginning in 2029, a penalty that sharply changes the way the franchise can manage its long-term draft stock and build around Kawhi Leonards uncertain team timeline.
For Boston, the immediate interest is tied to the Clippers 2028 first-rounder, which is top-16 protected and could end up being swapped with the Celtics depending on how the lottery shakes out. It is the kind of distant asset that rarely stays top of mind for long, but with the Clippers now facing a much tighter grip on their future draft control, the pick suddenly looks a lot more worth watching. [Read more 🡒]
Derrick White Suddenly Feels Less Safe In Bostons Core
Derrick White has become one of the most important pieces of Bostons core, the kind of all-around guard who fits just about any lineup and has earned plenty of praise for the way he plays on both ends. Even so, the conversation around his place in the long-term picture has gotten more complicated, with Sports Illustrateds John Karalis pointing to Whites value while also noting the Celtics salary cap squeeze as a real factor in how the roster is managed going forward.
Whites recent shooting has only added another layer to the discussion, because even a dependable role player can start to feel less secure when a team is trying to balance performance with cost. For Boston, the question is less about whether White helps them and more about whether the financial realities around the roster eventually force harder decisions than anyone wants to make right now. [Read more 🡒]
Celtics Trade Return Rides On One Complicated Pick Twist
The Celtics return for Jaylen Brown is more than just Paul George and a stack of future picks. On paper, Boston added two first-rounders and two second-rounders from a blockbuster deal with Philadelphia, giving the front office more ammunition to work with down the road while reshaping the roster in the present. One of those firsts is straightforward enough, an unprotected 2031 pick from the 76ers, but the rest of the package comes with the kind of fine print that can make draft night math feel like a second job.
The most complicated piece is the protected 2028 first-rounder from the Clippers, which carries swap rights tied into both Bostons and San Antonios picks. The Celtics also picked up second-round selections in 2028 and 2030, each depending on which teams pick lands in the most favorable spot. It leaves Boston with a haul that looks substantial at first glance, even if the exact value of part of it will not be fully known until those drafts start to unfold. [Read more 🡒]