Kawhi, George make Clippers title favorites. The biggest loser? LA Lakers.

The news broke late on a Friday night, when half the basketball world was in bed, typical for the NBA star who cares least about the spotlight. Kawhi Leonard is going to the Clippers, who also traded Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari and a massive package of future first-round picks for Paul George. Suddenly the Clippers have added the reigning Finals MVP and last season's third-place MVP finisher to a team that won 48 games last year, vaulted to the top of the Western Conference contenders, and massively crushed the spirits of their cross-town rivals, the Lakers.

Jerry West and the Clippers have been acquiring assets for years for just this kind of strike. After re-signing Blake Griffin to an extension, they flipped him for Tobias Harris and picks, one of which became Gilgeous-Alexander, then flipped Harris a year later for more picks. That gave them the ammunition to make an overwhelming offer for George, who with Kawhi will form the league’s most terrifying pair of wing defenders since Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen. Oh, and the Clippers still have former first-team All-Defensive guard Patrick Beverley, so they should be able to play absolutely ferocious defense next year. The Clippers still need a big man and perhaps another point guard, but they have to be considered the title favorites now.

Who are the losers after the signing? The Toronto Raptors, but the Board Man’s departure stings less in the afterglow of Canada’s first title. This is not a situation where a superstar leaves and betrayed fans burn his jersey in anger. Kawhi was likely always going to be a rental, and dealing franchise cornerstone DeMar DeRozan would have been part of a rebuilding effort anyway. Now the Raps are unlikely to defend their title, but the contracts of Marc Gasol, Kyle Lowry, and Serge Ibaka come off the books in a year, leaving them free to build a new contender around Pascal Siakam, Fred VanVleet and a boatload of  dollars to lure free agents.

It’s a distressing moment for the Los Angeles Lakers, who truly believed Kawhi was coming to form a Big Three with Anthony Davis and LeBron James. Two years ago, they declined to trade for George, even after he requested a trade to the Lakers. Last year, he chose the Thunder over them in free agency. And now he’s in LA playing for their cross-town rivals.

Kawhi made his decision more than five days after the beginning of free agency, so most premium free agents have signed. There was very little left for the Lakers to use their much-ballyhooed maximum contract space on, so they gave out two-year deals to Danny Green ($15 M per year), JaVale McGee ($4M), and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope ($8M), the latter being the latest Klutch Sports client to be overpaid as LeBron’s teammate.

The Lakers still don’t have a point guard, which means we may see 34-year-old Rajon Rondo running the offense. They must get creative to fill out the roster, something that no one in the world trusts GM Rob Pelinka to do.

For Oklahoma City, its hands were forced by George’s trade demand. But the deal is also an acknowledgement that the George-Westbrook duo had a ceiling, maxing out at a first-round exit. Now they have their best young player since, well, Victor Oladipo in Gilgeous-Alexander, a quality scoring forward in Gallinari, and five additional first-round picks. Maybe this means they’ll do the unthinkable and trade Russell Westbrook, but it’s more likely that they’ll try to use the picks in a package for a disgruntled veteran. Would the Wizards take three first-rounders and the salary relief from Gallinari’s contract in exchange for Bradley Beal?

The other big winner is West, who came to the Clippers two years ago after the Warriors tried to cut his salary. The Warriors also let their trainer go to Atlanta over salary demands, only to see three-fifths of their starting lineup go down to injuries during the playoffs. West has built playoff teams in Memphis, Golden State, and now the Clippers since leaving the Lakers in 2002. It’s a good thing he already has a statue outside of the Staples Center, because after these moves, the Clippers would have to build him one.