Are the Thunder BAD for the NBA?

Are the Thunder BAD for the NBA?

[Music] Welcome back to the show. Today we are talking about why the Oklahoma City Thunder is so good. Like how is the whole team good? Not even like how is the whole actual team good, but how is the organization in such a good position? Also, how is the organization thriving without spending a lot of money? While a team like the Clippers is in the exact opposite position. First of all, the Clippers have no young talent on their team. The whole team is full of veteran players. The future of the Clippers isn’t on the team right now. Kawawaii is cooked. Bradley Beal is cooked. Chris Paul is cooked. Brook Lopez is cooked. And as much as I hate to say it, Nicholas Batum is cooked. James Harden is not cooked at this point, but he’s still pretty old. The only young players on this team are Kobe Brown and Yannik Conan Neerhouser. No disrespect to these guys, but who are these guys? The reason the Clippers don’t have any young talent is because they traded it all away to Oklahoma City. They decided they weren’t going to try to develop their team through the draft, so they traded all their picks there. They signed Kawhi Leonard who was a free agent and then they traded for Paul George who was on the Oklahoma City Thunder. They gave up five first round picks for Paul George and two pick swaps. Meaning if the Clippers hadn’t traded for Paul George, they would have had five young players developing in their program over the last 6 years and they wouldn’t be stuck with all these old bets on minimum contracts. So, we know the Los Angeles Clippers gave away five first round picks for Paul George in 2019. But which players did these picks end up becoming? Well, the 2021 first round pick ended up being Trey Man, who was decent for them, and they traded him in 2024 before the playoffs for Gordon Hayward. That didn’t really work out, but hey, they got five first round picks. They’re not all going to be winners. The next pick was the Clippers 2022 draft pick. That was the 12th pick overall, and it ended up being Jaylen Williams, the second best player on Oklahoma City’s team, who in his third season became an all-star and made an allNBA team. The third pick that the Thunder got from the Clippers was a protected pick in 2023, but it didn’t end up conveying. So, it was really like the Thunder got four first round picks for Paul George. Protected picks aren’t nearly as valuable as unprotected picks, cuz sometimes you don’t get protected picks. The Thunder then got the Clippers 2024 first round pick, which ended up being Dylan Jones. Dylan Jones wasn’t that great. He’s actually the only player from Oklahoma City’s championship team that they didn’t bring back this year. But every first round pick can’t be Jaylen Williams. And Dylan Jones found a home at the Rip City remix. He’s doing all right. But the Clippers are still paying off that Paul George trade because this year the Thunder have their first round pick. And judging by how poorly the Clippers are playing right now, that pick is looking to be pretty high. So, all that is cool and all, but the five first round picks the Oklahoma City Thunder got from the Clippers from the Paul George trade don’t really matter. The Clippers could have given away no picks and made that trade and still lost the trade. The reason being the Oklahoma City Thunder got Denilo Galinari, who completely changed the complexion of that team’s offense with his three-point shooting ability and his Italian accent. I’m kidding. They got Sheay Gilchas Alexander from that trade. Shay had just finished his rookie season in LA. He played all 82 games and he’d started 73 of them. He made second team all rookie. He averaged 10 points a game on really efficient shooting numbers. He even got playoff experience, too, when they took the Warriors to six games. The Clippers liked Sheay. They didn’t really want to trade him for Paul George. The problem was Kawhai would only sign with the Clippers if they made a trade to get Paul George. And trading Shay was the only way they could do it. So, if the Clippers didn’t trade him, they would have missed out on Kawawaii and Paul George, which, you know, in hindsight would have probably been best for the Clippers. Ultimately though, this was not a mistake for the Clippers. The Clippers were in win now mode. This was a good trade. Every fan in the league envied the Clippers. Why was coming off the championship in Toronto, he was the free agent that everyone wanted. And then them getting another AllNBA player made it sort of seem unfair. Where the Clippers really went wrong was extending those guys contracts even though they were underperforming. So, when Shay got to Oklahoma City, no one thought he was going to be a league MVP. As a matter of fact, his ceiling was seen as a potential all-star. His rookie season was solid, but people were glazing his other draft classmates. Luca Don, who won rookie of the year. I mean, he came in the league and he was one of the best offensive creators. Then Trey Young, who almost stole rookie of the year from Luca. Trey’s scoring and assist numbers exploded after the All-Star break. He had a 49-point game against the Bulls in March. People were talking about Jiren Jackson Jr. being the next Giannis, and DeAndre Aton was still basically the DeAndre Aton he is now, which is very skilled as a rookie. Even Colin Ston got more rookie of the year votes than Sheay did. So, how did Sheay become the best basketball player in the world, objectively better than Nicola Jokic. I’m just messing with y’all. Shay developed a great reputation as a point of attack defender. He was averaging a lot of steals per game, which set him apart from other high usage guards. Secondly, he worked on his shot pile. Sheay has always been pretty efficient, but he developed a mid-range jumper and took a lot more threes. Since he took more threes, defenders had to guard him tighter, enabling him to do what he does best. get to the rim, draw contact, get fouled, and go to the free throw line. No shame, he still doesn’t go to the free throw line nearly as much as Yiannis does. Now, let’s talk about the greatest general manager in NBA history, Sam Prey, the GM of the Oklahoma City Thunder. Everyone is always talking about how brilliant this guy is, but is it true? We all thought Messiah Jerry was a genius. He made the Kawawaii trade and then Toronto won the championship. But 6 years of bad signings and bad trades later, we realized he just got lucky. Everyone thought Brad Stevens assembled the perfect team in Boston. But in reality, he just spent a lot of money and the team wasn’t sustainable. They had to break it up. They didn’t want to pay that much luxury tax. Now they’re kind of mid. And you know what? We’re going to give Bob Myers some credit. He drafted Draymond Green. And maybe he sweet talked Kevin Durant into coming to Golden State. I don’t know. But he he won a couple championships. But Sam Prey is the best roster builder of all time and best procurer of talent. He drafted KD, which is a pretty obvious pick. He also drafted Russell Westbrook, who a lot of teams thought was too raw. But Preie knew he had the potential to be a league MVP. Not to mention in the same draft they got Ser Jabbaka who became the defensive anchor of that team. Then in 2009 a lot of people thought the Oklahoma City Thunder were going to pick Ricky Rubio. But with the third overall pick they got James Harden. Preie did not get the best player available. He got the player that fit with the team. They needed an offthebench score, not a point guard. Granted, I got to say Sam Prey did trade away James Harden. At the same time though, you can’t think that James Harden would have turned into the player that he was going to turn into if he had to share the ball with Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. But that’s the past. Sam Prey has done cooler stuff since then. First of all, Sam Prey drafted Jaylen Williams and Chad Homegrren in the same draft. The Oklahoma City Thunder had the second pick overall in the 2022 NBA draft. Two days before the draft, the Orlando Magic, who had the number one pick, were expected to pick Jabari Smith Jr. He was the consensus number one pick overall before the draft. But around 2 days before they started talking and they switched up. They were going to go with Paulo Banker, which gave OKC the opportunity to get Jabari Smith Jr. OKC isn’t the type of organization to pick the best available player in the draft. That’s what bad organizations do. They just pick a guy that everyone else thinks is good. But Sam Prey knew he wanted Chedgrren. He wanted a big man who could protect the rim but also shoot threes. Then don’t forget the Thunder had the Clippers first round pick in 2022. They chose Jaylen Williams even though a lot of teams had no interest in the guy. It wasn’t until the combine when scouts started talking about it. He was an older player. He was finishing up his junior year at Santa Clara, smaller school. But Sam Prey saw his basketball IQ and giant wingspan and the fact that he could score off ball. Guys like Oce Abaji and Jaylen Duran seem like safer bets. But lo and behold, Jaylen Williams became the best player in his draft. Sorry Paulo Bankro fans. It’s my channel and I can say whatever I want and it becomes true and no one is allowed to argue with me. Now the real strength of the Oklahoma City Thunder is their bench. OKC’s bench is better than probably 16 starting lineup. First of all, we’ve got AJ Mitchell, who’s filling in minutes for an injured Jaylen Williams, getting 16 points a game. Also, keep in mind, AJ Mitchell is signed for $2.85 million for the next 2 years. Just for reference, that is less than 5% what Jason Tatum will be getting paid for those years. Then, we’ve got to talk about Kase Wallace, the 10th pick in the 2023 NBA draft, who’s become an incredible point of attack defender, and he usually takes the toughest defensive assignments every night, or at least the toughest guard on the other team. He’s an efficient scorer, too. Shooting 38% from three for his career. Then there’s Alex Caruso, whom the Thunder acquired by trading Josh Giddy. Sam Prey knew the Thunder did not need another shot creator. They needed another defender who could catch and shoot threes. Sam Prey traded a more talented player for a player who fit the team’s needs. Smart guy. The Thunder have developed a lot of second round picks. We got Aaron Wiggins who signed a two-way contract his rookie year until the day after Christmas. He dropped 24 points on the Pelicans and they guaranteed his contract. And then Jaylen Williams, who was drafted 34th overall in 2022, who’s become a solid backup power forward cuz you can count on him to get rebounds and shoot threes. So, I think the reason the Thunder are so good is because Sam Prey is focused on culture. From the coaches he hires, from the free agents he signs, the guys he trades for, and even the second round picks. Prey knew if he could thoughtfully assemble a cohesive team, wins and a championship would eventually just happen. All right, thank you for being here. You guys liked the video so much last Monday. and it did I did I think one of the best videos ever. So, thanks for doing that. That helped a ton. So, there’s a Patreon. Check out the Patreon if you want to. It’s a podcast every Saturday. Be good to your mom. I’m forgetting to say something. Eat a corn dog.

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The Thunder are thriving because their entire organization is aligned, disciplined, and built on long-term planning, while the Clippers are the opposite—an aging roster with no young talent and no future assets. Los Angeles loaded up on veterans like Kawhi, Paul George, Bradley Beal, Brook Lopez, Chris Paul, and Nicolas Batum, leaving almost no prospects outside of Kobe Brown and rookie Yanic Kohan Neiderhouser. That happened because the Clippers traded away nearly all their draft picks, most of them to Oklahoma City, in order to land Paul George and convince Kawhi to sign. Those five first-rounders could have been the young core the Clippers desperately need now.

OKC used those picks well. One became Tre Mann, another became Jalen Williams—now an All-Star and All-NBA player. Another became Dillon Jones, and they still own the Clippers’ 2025 pick, which looks extremely valuable given LA’s struggles. But the real centerpiece of the Paul George trade wasn’t the picks; it was Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Shai arrived as a solid rookie with good efficiency and defensive upside, but few expected him to become an MVP-level superstar. He sharpened his point-of-attack defense, expanded his shot diet, hit more threes, pressured the rim, and became elite at drawing fouls, all while maintaining efficiency.

Much of the Thunder’s rise comes back to Sam Presti. While other executives who once looked brilliant, like Masai Ujiri or Brad Stevens, fizzled, Presti has consistently built sustainable rosters. He drafted Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and Serge Ibaka, and though trading James Harden was unpopular, Harden wouldn’t have blossomed the same way next to KD and Russ. Presti’s modern run is just as impressive: selecting Chet Holmgren despite pressure to draft Jabari Smith Jr., and identifying Jalen Williams early when most teams didn’t consider him a lottery pick. Presti prioritizes fit, character, and IQ over consensus rankings.

The Thunder’s depth is their secret weapon. Ajay Mitchell is giving them efficient scoring on an extremely cheap contract. Cason Wallace has become an elite defensive guard who also shoots well from three. They flipped Josh Giddey for Alex Caruso because the roster needed defense and shooting more than another ball-handler. Even second-rounders like Aaron Wiggins and Jaylin Williams have carved out valuable roles.

Ultimately OKC is great because Presti built a true culture, from coaching hires to draft strategy to role-player development. Every move serves the team’s identity, and the result is a young, flexible roster with star power, depth, and a long championship window, all while spending far less money than teams like the Clippers, who chased stars and sacrificed their future to do it.