After the Los Angeles Lakers signed LeBron James in the summer of 2018, their plan was apparently to add not one but two superstars next to him. They got that first additional superstar early in the 2019 offseason when they landed Anthony Davis in a trade from the New Orleans Pelicans.

That same offseason, they were also in pursuit of forward Kawhi Leonard, who was fresh off leading the Toronto Raptors to the NBA championship. Leonard seemed to have the Lakers on the short list of teams he was considering signing with, but he ultimately chose to go to the Los Angeles Clippers.

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According to Bruce Arthur of the Toronto Star, Leonard didn’t want to play alongside James (h/t Lakers Daily).

“Leonard didn’t want to play with LeBron James, so the Lakers were a third wheel in the sweepstakes,” Arthur wrote.

At around the same time the Clippers signed Leonard, they made a big trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder for fellow All-Star forward Paul George. They gave up Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who had just finished his rookie season, Danilo Gallinari and five future first-round draft picks in order to receive George.

But their work that summer failed to yield results. In five seasons with both Leonard and George, the Clippers reached the Western Conference finals just once, and they haven’t won a single playoff series since that trip to the conference finals in 2021.

Meanwhile, the Thunder are now the reigning world champions after Gilgeous-Alexander won both the regular-season and NBA Finals MVP awards, and one of those draft picks they acquired from the Clippers turned into budding star wing Jalen Williams. As a result, that 2019 trade has turned into a huge blunder for the Clippers.

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As far as the Lakers are concerned, they did just fine after Leonard rejected them. James and Davis guided them to the NBA title in their first season together, and general manager Rob Pelinka managed to turn Davis, 3-and-D wing Max Christie and a future first-round draft pick into young generational superstar Luka Doncic in February.

The Lakers’ immediate future is fairly bright now, while the Clippers’ future is murky at best.

This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Kawhi Leonard reportedly didn’t want to play with LeBron James in 2019