Sergio Estrada-USA TODAY Sports
At 10:54 p.m. West Coast time and 1:54 a.m. East Coast time, ESPN broke the Kawhi Leonard news. And while much of North America was in their beds, the reigning NBA Finals MVP leaving Canada and the Raptors for the Clippers — and taking Paul George with him — woke up the NBA world.
Leonard reportedly will be signing a four-year, $142 million max contract, and George has been pried from the Thunder as the Clippers’ new Robin in exchange for a truckload of draft picks: four unprotected firsts along with one protected one, and the rights to swap two more picks with the Thunder.
As July 5 turned into July 6, the first week of NBA’s free agency ending and the decision that hung over the league finally coming down, Twitter was on fire. Have a look:
Live look at Western Conference pic.twitter.com/3d6PzmFYwv
— Ray Woodson (@RayWoodson925) July 6, 2019
Pretty incredible that the Nets and Clippers, in less than a week, beat out the Knicks and Lakers, respectively, in an arms race. Unfathomable 20 years ago.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) July 6, 2019
Clippers fans rn pic.twitter.com/eVGol8o510
— Sam Hustis (@SamHustis) July 6, 2019
Russ right now after the news. ? pic.twitter.com/zHgnwMXnVA
— House of Highlights (@HoHighlights) July 6, 2019
Never forget the face Kawhi made when PG was guarding him in March ? pic.twitter.com/hxXXjy0g8p
— ESPN (@espn) July 6, 2019
Woj wasn't hacked, guys.
— Jeff Passan (@JeffPassan) July 6, 2019
— Sebastian ?? (@Sebas_Mendo13) July 6, 2019