Los Angeles Lakers: Should Laker Nation be worried about the Clippers?

The Los Angeles Lakers thought Paul George was in the bag! They couldn’t even get a meeting. 

Two teams can’t have a rivalry without talent. Furthermore, it can’t be exciting without a fascinating backstory. The Clippers couldn’t be considered a threat to the Lakers if they didn’t land the superstars to even up the playing field.

Over the last two seasons, the Lakers made a concerted effort to land Paul George and Kawhi Leonard. They made it clear to both players that they were wanted and cleared a ton of cap space for their potential arrival.

Both players, in their own way, snubbed the Lakers and joined the Clippers. One player (Kawhi Leonard) quietly handled his business that kept everyone guessing. The other player (Paul George) just confused everybody.

Remember when it was a foregone conclusion from media members that these two were going to be in the purple and gold?

First Sam Amick of the USA Today.

"“Rival executives will argue that his value is depressed because of the alive-and-well rumor he is headed for the Lakers, knowing full well that the Thunder don’t want to lose a superstar for the second time in three summers after Kevin Durant. The lack of leverage, if nothing else,could compel the Thunder to see this through until the summertime.”"

After a Thunder trade that seemed like a huge gamble to many, paid off handsomely, at the time.

The drama ensued when George refused to even carry a conversation with then head of basketball operations, Magic Johnson.

Then Paul George added fuel to the fire saying that the Lakers were “pissed” on Chris Pfaff’s Short Story Long podcast.

"“L.A. was pissed at me,” he said. “I didn’t give Magic Johnson a meeting which I understand. But at that point, I knew I wanted to give it another shot. I didn’t want to prolong it and waste people’s time.”"

Now that he’s with the Clippers. Now, this.

https://twitter.com/NBATV/status/1178390403462119424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1178390403462119424&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Flakeshowlife.com%2F2019%2F10%2F19%2Flos-angeles-lakers-best-duo-hollywood%2F

Rivalries can’t happen without quotes like these. For some reason, they seem to fire up Lakers fans on social media. Instead of looking at past history, they post nasty tweets without remembering George’s recent playoff performances.

What about George’s success as a superstar in the playoffs? No, not just last year when Damian Lillard waved bye-bye to the Thunder organization and its vision.

How about that elimination game versus Utah the year before? Does anybody forget about the LeBron-led Miami Heat giving him the blues?

Paul George was happy being Robin to Russell Westbrook‘s Batman in OKC, but will he stay happy with the same role to Kawhi Leonard for the Clippers?

Speaking of Kawhi Leonard. Let’s talk about how his drama played out. Let’s just say he handles his business a little bit quieter than George.