Paul George says he never wanted to leave the Clippers: "I thought I played well enough for them to be like, 'You know what? He's part of our future"

Many believed that Los Angeles would be the last stop of Paul George 's career because going home was his significant consideration when he signed with the Clippers. But surprisingly, the Clippers ended up letting PG walk away in free agency after the player and team could not agree on a deal.

During the latest episode of Podcast P, the 9-time NBA All-Star explained what drove him to leave the Clippers and likely finish his career somewhere other than his hometown.

"I thought I played, played well enough for them to be like, 'you know what? He's a part of our future,'" explained George. "I thought I did that. I thought I earned that."

The first offer was disrespectful

Paul began by telling his co-hosts that the negotiations began before the start of the previous season, with the Clippers offering him a 'disrespectful' two-year $60 million deal. The number went up to like $44-45 million per year in the next couple of months, but PG still thought that the Clippers were lowballing him.

Then he ended up telling the Clippers that if they would give him what they gave Kawhi, he would take it. The figure finally reached something like three years and $150 million, but then the Clippers did not want to give George a 'no trade' clause, and that's when he decided things wouldn't work anymore.

"Granted, we didn't win while I was there, but luck has a lot to do with that. We couldn't remain healthy as a unit, but I thought I did enough to earn that. They didn't want to do it. So it was just a stalemate. We came to a stalemate, and ultimately, it was like, alright, that ship has sailed," the newest member of the 76ers added.

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One of the most lopsided trades in NBA history

With PG leaving the Clippers for nothing, the trade that sent him to the Clippers from the Oklahoma Thunder officially became one of the most lopsided trades in NBA history. That's because Steve Ballmer gave up the entire farm so that they could pair him with Kawhi.

The Clippers surrendered Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari, four unprotected first-round picks, two protected first-round picks, and two pick swaps. Not only has SGA blossomed into an All-NBA caliber player and is still improving, but one of the picks became Jalen Williams, OKC's second-leading scorer behind Gilgeous-Alexander.

Meanwhile, as George said, the Clippers could not stay healthy and have made just one WCF appearance since getting Kawhi and Paul together. As it stands now, the Kawhi-PG era ended with the Clips getting booted out in the first round of the playoffs in back-to-back seasons.

Related: "I'm going to keep going until I can't" - Kawhi says he doesn't pay the critics who say he's 'injury-prone' any mind