{"id":57167,"date":"2025-05-26T09:38:18","date_gmt":"2025-05-26T09:38:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/57167\/"},"modified":"2025-05-26T09:38:18","modified_gmt":"2025-05-26T09:38:18","slug":"austin-rivers-blasts-paul-george-to-clippers-worst-trades-in-history-and-what-he-told-dad-doc-rivers-at-the-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/57167\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin Rivers blasts Paul George to Clippers ‘worst trades in history’, and what he told dad Doc Rivers at the time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Former NBA star Austin Rivers has criticized the major deal that took Paul George to the LA Clippers in 2019.<\/p>\n

The trade that took Paul George<\/a> from the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> to the Los Angeles Clippers<\/a> in 2019 is still reverberating around the NBA.<\/p>\n

Even though George moved on from the Clippers in free agency in 2024, one of the players the Clippers gave up, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/a>, is on course to win this season\u2019s MVP Award<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Clippers did not know how great a player SGA would prove to be \u2013 but at the time the move was still a great \u2018all in\u2019 gamble as the team looked to compete with rivals the Lakers, who had teamed Anthony Davis up with LeBron James.<\/p>\n

The move to bring Paul George to the Clippers partnered him with Kawhi Leonard<\/a>, who had just led the Toronto Raptors to the title.<\/p>\n

\"HoustonPhoto by Harry How\/Getty ImagesAustin Rivers on Paul George trade<\/p>\n

Former NBA player Austin Rivers has a unique insight on the Paul George trade, because his dad Doc Rivers<\/a> was the head coach of the LA Clippers at the time of the trade.<\/p>\n

Doc Rivers left his role at the Clippers one year later, ending a seven-year stint, after blowing a 3-1 playoff series lead<\/a> against the Nuggets.<\/p>\n

Austin Rivers believes the Paul George trade was a key part of his dad\u2019s dismissal, with the team failing to deliver.<\/p>\n

He told his Off Guard podcast: \u201cMy pops was his coach with the Clippers, and he was a part of that acquisition of Paul George, which ultimately set\u00a0him on his way bringing Paul George to his team ultimately got him fired.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rivers explained that he has no personal gripe with Paul George \u2013 but he believes it was clearly the wrong move, with the current Sixers star not the right player to build around.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not blaming Paul George for that, I think he\u2019s a talented, talented basketball player. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe obviously achieved things in the NBA, more than I ever did, All-Stars and all these different great things, very talented scorer, a lot of capability. I don\u2019t think he\u2019s a leader.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think he\u2019s a winner, and he\u2019s not someone that I could ever like, really trust and like go to battle with, whether I\u2019m a coach, a fan or anything. I just don\u2019t really see it.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think he\u2019s always been a talented guy that has a pretty game to watch. At its best, the way he scores, his handle is very smooth. So that\u2019s where people fall in love with Paul George. But for me, that\u2019s where it ends.\u201d<\/p>\n

He went on to add that he believes Kawhi Leonard\u2019s desire to sign Paul George and the team\u2019s desire to appease the former Raptors star was a key reason for the move going ahead.<\/p>\n

Reflecting on having to give up Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/a> in the deal, Austin Rivers has no doubts how the trade is now viewed.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow looking back at it, the fact that that guy was traded for Shai along with all those other picks, it\u2019s one of the worst trades in NBA history, seriously. So it is what it is. I don\u2019t know how to put that.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Austin Rivers admits how he really felt at the time<\/p>\n

Austin Rivers admits that at the time the trade went ahead, he did not feel how he does now, even feeling positive.<\/p>\n

He explained: \u201cNo one thought Shai was going to be that good. And I talked to my pops even at the time, he\u2019s talented, because I thought he\u2019s talented. I never thought he\u2019s going to be what he is now.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cTrust me, when they got Paul George, I remember like, damn, they got Paul the got Kawhi. I remember telling my pops, \u2018y\u2019all got a squad, Man, y\u2019all gonna be really good\u2019, you know, thinking they made the right moves too I think we all did.\u201d<\/p>\n

And flitting back to the present, he added: \u201cNow it\u2019s aged like milk.\u201d<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former NBA star Austin Rivers has criticized the major deal that took Paul George to the LA Clippers…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57168,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3789],"tags":[3664,7,559,2660,4034,192,4032,251,135,4033,4031,6,179,526,209,574],"class_list":{"0":"post-57167","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-clippers","8":"tag-austin-rivers","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-clippers","11":"tag-doc-rivers","12":"tag-la","13":"tag-la-clippers","14":"tag-laclippers","15":"tag-los-angeles","16":"tag-los-angeles-clippers","17":"tag-losangeles","18":"tag-losangelesclippers","19":"tag-nba","20":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","21":"tag-paul-george","22":"tag-shai-gilgeous-alexander","23":"tag-western-conference"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114573469547745329","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57167\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57168"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}