Ty Lue Gets Honest on Clippers' Controversial Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Trade

In the 2019 NBA offseason, Kawhi Leonard was coming off a historic championship run with the Toronto Raptors, but he was hitting free agency. Of course, Leonard was eyeing a return home to Los Angeles, but to sign the superstar forward, the Clippers had to make another move as well.

Leonard recruited Paul George from the Oklahoma City Thunder to team up with him in Los Angeles, but George was still under contract. In order to acquire George to pair with Leonard and fulfill his request, the Clippers had to part with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. In total, the Clippers sent Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari, and five first-round picks to the Thunder in exchange for George.

This trade is undoubtedly one of the most controversial in NBA history, as not only did George's Clippers tenure fall short of expectations, but Gilgeous-Alexander has turned into one of the league's best players in Oklahoma City.

Gilgeous-Alexander is coming off a historic 2024-25 season, winning NBA MVP and Finals MVP, becoming one of the select handful of players to accomplish that in the same season.

Do the Clippers regret the trade?

Of course, it is hard for the Clippers organization not to look back on this deal and feel some regret, as they should be the franchise that is reaping the benefits of Gilgeous-Alexander.

While Doc Rivers was the Clippers' coach at the time, current head coach Ty Lue was recently asked in an interview with Shannon Sharpe on "Club Shay Shay" if he knew Gilgeous-Alexander would be this good before they made the trade.

"No," Lue said. "No, I didn't. And we talk about it all the time... if it would have been done all over again, I would've done the trade too. Like, [Paul George] was second in MVP voting, a two-way player, it was like Jordan and Pippen. Shai was a really good young player, but you didn't know he was gonna be this."

Lue also believes that this trade was the best thing that could have happened to Gilgeous-Alexander.

"I think it was the best thing for Shai," Lue continued. "Because if Shai would've stayed with the Clippers, he wouldn't be this. He was able to grow and figure it out, have his own team... Who wouldn't trade a first-year player for a guy like PG to team up with Kawhi? Anybody would've done that... That was a no-brainer to me. "