Thunder GM disagrees with Paul George’s notion that trade to Clippers was “mutual”

During his Clippers’ introductory press conference earlier this week, Paul George opened up about his trade request from the Oklahoma City Thunder.

While commenting he is thankful for his time with the organization, he also said that the trade was ‘mutual’ as both sides felt it was time to move on.

Apparently this is news to Thunder GM Sam Presti.

Presti respectfully denounced George’s comments on Thursday, basically admitting that he had no desire to trade the All-Star before he was given the trade request.

“I know that he had used the term ‘mutual’…I wouldn’t necessarily agree with that because that would infer that we were wanting to trade Paul George, which I think most people would agree that that probably wasn’t on the top of our offseason priority list.” said Presti.

“But I would say that it was not adversarial at all and I also fully respect the way that it was handled. And the fact that we were able to make it work in a way that benefited the franchise made it something that we could do.”

On the bright side, at least Presti and the Thunder benefitted greatly from the trade. Just by trading George alone, they acquired rookie guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, veteran Danilo Gallinari, a whopping five future first-round draft picks, and the rights to swap two other first round picks.

This will give the Thunder a great opportunity to rebuild and create another powerhouse in the West.