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In an N.B.A. off-season filled with surprises, Kawhi Leonard may have just supplied the biggest.

The famously reclusive Leonard has proved to be more of a talker behind the scenes, more of a recruiter, than anyone in the league realized. In his San Antonio days, remember, Leonard made the media-shy Tim Duncan seem gregarious.

After clandestine attempts to recruit, first, Jimmy Butler and then Kevin Durant to join him on the Los Angeles Clippers, Leonard was a driving force in persuading Paul George to abruptly request a trade from the Oklahoma City Thunder to the Clippers, according to three people familiar with the negotiations who were not authorized to discuss them publicly.

After a week of deliberations that generated much curiosity but also impatience around the league, Leonard has committed the next four years of his career to the Clippers — but only after his new team managed to swing an equally stunning trade to acquire George. That bold move met Leonard’s prerequisite that he be joined by another elite player before he would agree to leave the Toronto Raptors less than a month after leading the Canadian franchise to its first championship.