Sam Presti refuted the suggestion made by Paul George that this offseason's trade was "mutual."

"I think the world of PG. I think everybody knows that," Presti said. "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.

"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."

George requested a trade from the Thunder after the start of free agency and he was dealt to the Los Angeles Clippers.

"The players have the freedom to be able to talk and recruit, and there's nothing limiting that, and that obviously changed the game for us," Presti said. "But I feel really good about the fact that we were able to make it work for everybody and figure out a solution, because based on just looking down the runway, we were probably going to be faced with that scenario probably after the following season. He would have had one year left on his contract at that point in time, and although we may have had more time to plan, I don't think we were going to be in a position to be able to recoup the value that we were able to in that particular situation."

The Oklahoma City Thunder were willing to discuss the possibility of trading Russell Westbrook prior to the draft, according to at least one rival team.

Westbrook and Paul George approached the Thunder about their discontent with the current situation before the draft.

The Thunder managed to trade George following an aggressive approach from the Los Angeles Clippers. Westbrook was traded to the Houston Rockets shortly thereafter.

It is "not accurate" that Kawhi Leonard recruited Paul George to demand a trade to join the Los Angeles Clippers, a source tells Shams Charania of The Athletic.

George had interest in playing in Los Angeles in 2017, but was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder and then re-signed with the franchise in 2018.

George sensed joining Leonard with the Clippers was a special opportunity.

George was on board with the move after speaking with Leonard.

Russell Westbrook and Paul George both communicated their discontent to the Oklahoma City Thunder around the time of the draft, sources told Jovan Buha and Sam Amick of The Athletic.

Both Westbrook and George expressed interest in the Thunder making significant changes following another first round exit.

The Thunder worked on quelling the concerns of Westbrook and George by the start of free agency and planned on moving forward with their offseason acquisitions building around them.

The Los Angeles Clippers received word on July 3rd that George wanted out of Oklahoma City.

The Los Angeles Clippers inquired about the availability of James Harden as they pursued a second star to pair with Kawhi Leonard. The Houston Rockets told the Clippers that Harden wasn't available.

The Clippers also reached out to the Washington Wizards about Bradley Beal before eventually acquiring Paul George.

Leonard also reached out to Jimmy Butler and Kevin Durant about teaming up with the Clippers before they made their own free agency decisions.

The Oklahoma City Thunder and Chris Paul are not expected to find a successful trade before the start of the season.

Paul and the Thunder have been working together on finding a trade, but nothing is materializing this deep into free agency.

Both sides believe there are benefits to Paul playing out the season with the Thunder.

The Thunder will have more optionality trading Paul after December 15th when free agents who signed contracts in the 2019 offseason can be traded.

When the Utah Jazz decided they would not retain Derrick Favors this offseason, he expressed a preference to end up with the New Orleans Pelicans.

The Jazz then worked to accommodate Favors, who had $16.9 million remaining on his deal. 

New Orleans sent second round picks belonging to the Warriors in 2021 and 2023 to the Jazz.

Bob Myers refuted speculation that the Golden State Warriors acquired D'Angelo Russell with the intention to eventually trade him.

The Warriors didn't want to lose Kevin Durant without getting an asset in return, so they used a sign-and-trade to get Russell despite his less than perfect fit. Russell signed a four-year, $117 million contract.

"I know it's been written and speculated. That's fine," Myers said Monday. "That's what everybody's job is to do. We didn't sign him with the intention of just trading him. We haven't even seen him play in our uniform yet, and a lot of people have us already trading him. That's not how we're viewing it. Let's just see what we have. Let's see what he is. Let's see how he fits.

"Part of our job in the front office and the coaching staff and the organization is, 'How does it all work?' ... So much of our sport at least, and maybe other sports, is, 'What are you doing next?' We got to figure out what we're doing now."

Myers added: "We're just happy that we got a young player that has a lot of upside, in our opinion, and we're excited at the possibility of him in our uniform."

The Houston Rockets remain "extremely interested" in trading for Andre Iguodala, sources tell Kelly Iko of The Athletic.

The Rockets hoped Iguodala would be bought out, but the Memphis Grizzlies have remained committed to exploring trade scenarios. The Grizzlies are seeking at least a first round pick as part of a deal for Iguodala.

Houston aggressively pursued Iguodala when he was a free agent in 2017.

Shams Charania of The Athletic reports that the Los Angeles Clippers are also "strongly pursuing" Iguodala, but talks with the Grizzlies and both the Clippers and Rockets "seem to be at a standstill."

The Miami Heat are interested in trading for Bradley Beal and would consider taking back John Wall's contract in a potential deal, league sources told Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald.

Wall, who is coming off an Achilles injury, has four years and $171 million remaining on his contract. 

Jackson also describes the team's interest in trading for Chris Paul as "lukewarm" as his contract would keep the Heat from having max cap space in 2021.

The Thunder are working with Paul and his agent to redirect the point guard to a third team.