Paul George got Kawhi Leonard's blessing before leaving for the 76ers
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After five seasons, the super team the Clippers in Los Angeles, has been dismantled. But Paul George didn't close the door too quickly on LA and his partner over that span — Kawhi Leonard.
Three playoff series victories later, George headed to the City of Brotherly Love with a four-year, $212 million deal with the 76ers in free agency. It wasn't the ending that the Clippers thought would happen when they brought in Leonard and George five years ago; they expected a ring and a championship. Instead, George and Leonard built a friendship.
In the most recent episode of Podcast P, presented by Wave Sports + Entertainment starring George, he talked about his conversation with Leonard regarding his planned exit from LA. It revealed that Leonard supported George and encouraged him to maximize his earning potential.
“I owed Kawhi that conversation. I called him up and was just like, man, listen, I think I'm going to go elsewhere. Conversations with the Clippers didn't go how I wanted to. … We had that conversation, and I was like, man, ‘I got to do what's best.' He understood like ‘Go get your bag.' Like, ‘P, go get your bag. I can't even be mad at you,'” George said.
“I owed Kawhi that conversation ... it was tough to leave him.”
— Podcast P with Paul George (@PodcastPShow) July 8, 2024
PG got Kawhi’s support on his free agency decision 🤝 @coinbase pic.twitter.com/FY2z1XR0lN
“I look at Kawhi as one of my best friends in this league. Somebody that I f**k with. Our families love each other. So it was tough to leave him just with how much I enjoyed being out there with him,” George added. “That was one of a big decision too that weighed a lot on me was just, damn, I'm leaving my boy. But I had to have that conversation with him. We talked and he gave me his blessings of like, ‘Man, just go do what's best for you.'”
It's a relationship that not many expected out of the two, especially with the closed-off and nonemotional side of Leonard that many NBA fans see. But the two seemed to create a genuine bond of brotherhood while playing for the Clippers.
However, George is now off to Philadelphia to try to win the NBA title that he has been chasing for his entire career.
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