Paul George: Death Threats Made Against Oklahoma City Thunder after NBA Star Traded
The Oklahoma City Thunder reportedly received death threats after they traded Paul George to the Los Angeles Clippers earlier this month.
General manager Sam Presti and the Thunder's front office were the receivers of two threatening voicemails, according to a search warrant filed last week.
In the voice message, the man, who identified himself as being from Virginia, said he hoped "to kill everybody" and criticized the Thunder's decision to trade George.
"Y'all traded Paul George but kept Raymond Felton. You kept Andre Roberson. Do y'all not love Russell Westbrook?" a transcript of one of the voicemails reads, as per ABC-affiliate KOCO News.
"I hope he kill everybody. I want to kill everybody."
In the call, the man also made a bomb reference and threatened to use an explosive device if he ever went to Oklahoma. Shortly after the first voicemail, the unidentified caller then left a second message in which he threatened Presti and his family.
The police have launched an investigation to trace where the call was made from, while the Thunder said the matter was now in the hands of the authorities.
"We defer to the authorities and they can handle the situation as they see fit," the team said in a statement.
Oklahoma traded George to the Los Angeles Clippers in a blockbuster deal on July 6.
In exchange for the All-Star guard, the Thunder received a record-setting haul of draft selections, which included four unprotected first-round picks, one protected first-round pick and two pick swaps as well as Danilo Gallinari and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, George told the Thunder he wanted to be traded after being approached by Kawhi Leonard.
The latter guided the Toronto Raptors to the NBA title last month but opted to become a free agent this summer and eventually signed for the Clippers. Before confirming his move to Los Angeles, Leonard recruited George and convinced the 29-year-old to join him in Southern California—where both players hail from.
George's departure from Oklahoma was particularly surprising as it came just 12 months after he signed a four-year, $137 million deal with the Thunder.
A week after George was traded, the Thunder waved goodbye to franchise icon Russell Westbrook, who was traded to the Houston Rockets in exchange for two protected first round picks and Chris Paul.
The 2017 regular season MVP had spent his entire career with the Thunder since being selected with the fourth overall pick of the 2008, but Oklahoma felt its title window had closed and opted to press the reset button instead.
Since losing the 2012 NBA Finals to the Miami Heat, the Thunder reached the Conference Finals just once, losing to the Golden State Warriors in seven games in 2016.
That prompted Kevin Durant to leave Oklahoma for Golden State and the Thunder have been eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in each of the last three seasons.
