There are a lot of regrettable trades in the league that change the trajectory of a team and cause them to lose a lot of potential players. If there is one trade that a team regrets the most in recent years, it is the deal between George and Alexander, when the Clippers sent away the young and promising player Alexander in order to get Paul George. This is a major misstep in the history of the Clippers management.
Alexander is currently averaging 31.6 points per game this season, currently the highest in the league, and he is currently at the top of the MVP list, and he is likely to win the first regular season MVP of his career this season. Alexander is undoubtedly the star of the team with the Thunder, and he's already on his way to superstar status, leading the Thunder to No. 1 in the West this season and is likely to challenge for a championship this year. Maybe a few years ago, the Clippers didn't expect Alexander to have such a strong individual achievement.
It is reported that the Clippers were reluctant to give up Alexander, but it seems that Leonard very much hopes that Paul George can join the Clippers to assist him, so due to Leonard's pressure, the Clippers have no choice but to give up Alexander. And Paul George has not taken the Clippers to too high a few years with Leonard in the past few years, and it can be said that he wasted a few years in vain. If the Clippers had chosen to correct Alexander, perhaps Alexander would still have been able to grow into a superstar with the Clippers. After all, his hard power is there. Someone in Clippers management saw the potential in Alexander.
If they can keep Alexander, the Clippers will be a strong team in the West for a long time to come, but now that Harden is very old, Leonard is also a glass player. They simply can't guarantee the integrity of their future core architecture. Probably within two to three years, the Clippers will immediately become an underdog, and they don't have any young potential players on their roster at the moment. So this deal has always been a pain in the hearts of Clippers fans.
We really admire the management of the Thunder team, they are really discerning in terms of picking, they really see the potential in Alexander, including in the draft, they are also repeatedly successful, and the success of the Thunder team is inseparable from the keen eye of their management.