@@Oklahoma City Thunder

The 2019 Dame Game Winner did not “End the Thunder.” It SAVED the Thunder.

  • April 23, 2024


It's the 5 year anniversary since this infamous shot back in 2019. I just wanted to give a lil rant about the whole "dame ended okc" narrative that was heavily pushed the past 4 years.

The way I see it, that shot SAVED OKC and was a DETRIMENT to Dame's career. That shot resulted in us getting Shai, who is quite literally better than Dame right now. On top of that, the next 5 years for Dame have been nothing more than mediocrity. He got bounced out the first round in 2020 and 2021, and didn't even make the playoffs in 2022 and 2023. I feel like that 2019 shot and that series as a whole gave the trail blazers franchise an impression that they could build around Dame, but that would turn out to be a horrible decision, which is evident from the past 4 years. Additionally, Dame has had an abysmal season for the Bucks and is a big reason for their lackluster play.

That shot allowed us to acquire Shai, a superstar who is now a top 5 player in the league and (imo) better than Dame ever was at any point in his career. On top of that, we were able to garner heavy draft capital and went through an entire cultural reset characterized by development of young talent and strategic positioning for future success. We're ultimately in a better position right now than we've ever been since the Russ-harden-kd era to make multiple championship runs.

What do yall think?

Tldr; the 2019 Dame game winner SAVED okc rather than "ended okc" like the narrative claims.

21 comments

  1. 1) Dame shot

    2) Clippers salivating for Kawhi

    3) Rockets turmoil with CP3

    The three things that saved our franchise that year

  2. Tired of this notion.

    Even if that Thunder team got past the blazers it was over.

    Sam Presti saved the Thunder. No one else.

  6. Yeah, no shit. That OKC team was going nowhere. I’ve been thanking Blazers for years.

  7. That shot arguably killed Portland. That franchise is stuck in no man’s land because they tried to keep making it work with Dame and now they have nothing.

  10. It didn’t save us, but it was the flame the phoenix dies in. Painful, but the rebirth has been AMAZING

  12. It was always way overblown. People act like the series was up for grabs and this was the deciding shot that won them the series when in reality they won 4-1 and if Dame missed that shot it would’ve gone to overtime where they likely would’ve won anyway

    Warriors beating us in the WCF ended that team that had a genuine chance of a ring. Portland beat us in the first round and ended a team that couldn’t even get to the second round.

  16. >The next 5 years of Dame have been nothing short of mediocre

    5x All-Star. 3x All-NBA Second team. 1x All-NBA Third team. Averaged 30+ PPG twice, and 28.8 another time.

    I think we have a different meaning of the word ‘mediocre’. And before anyone says “but what has he won!?” – you can ask the same question of 29 other teams, every year.

    The narrative of him ending OKC is fine because it ended the Thunder as they were. And look how much better you are for it.

  18. “Saved” isn’t the right word but I don’t know what is. Dame’s shot did end the Westbrook era of the Thunder, but it truly doesn’t end if PG doesn’t want to be a Clipper. If PG wanted to stay with OKC, the Thunder are probably still in the bubble, and probably still get bounced in the first round.

    PG demanding to become a Clipper is what got us here and gave us our future. That’s what got us Shai and the draft picks that resulted in JDub and Mann.

    One thing that we don’t really discuss during that offseason though: it allowed the Thunder to sell Westbrook right before he started his decline. He hasn’t been as good as he was in OKC. 

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