July 1, 2026, 11:01 a.m. CT
Seven years later, the Oklahoma City Thunder continue to reap the benefits of a blockbuster deal that jettisoned them to one Larry O’Brien trophy — with the possibility of adding more. Yep, the 2019 Paul George trade is the gift that keeps on giving.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander isn’t enough. If it were just a pure one-for-one swap, the Thunder would’ve run away as winners of the trade. The two-time MVP winner has catapulted past George in the all-time rankings. We’re seeing an all-time great pen his NBA lore right now.
But if you remember from when the deal happened, Gilgeous-Alexander wasn’t even the headliner — it was the bundle of draft picks. The Thunder have had control of the LA Clippers‘ draft capital for most of the 2020s. It’s become a yearly tradition to see if they can gift OKC another lottery pick.
So far, it’s produced an All-NBA talent in Jalen Williams. Yep, OKC’s MJ and Pippen were rooted from LA’s urgency to acquire George. Other high-end draft picks — Thomas Sorber and Aday Mara — have a chance to help the Thunder run up the scoreboard on the Clippers.
For all intents and purposes, the 2019 Paul George blockbuster is the NBA’s equivalent to the Herschel Walker trade. Both all-in moves blew up in the face of one franchise. Meanwhile, the other side eventually won a championship thanks to the draft haul they received for selling high on George and Walker.
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Shoutout Kawhi Leonard for forcing the Clippers’ hands. His six seasons were filled with catastrophe and disappointment — no matter how badly LA fans try to convince themselves otherwise in their textbook case of Stockholm syndrome.
Now, Leonard is off to the Toronto Raptors again. In a trade that is being categorized as a homecoming. In his departure, he leaves the Clippers alone and scared about the potential repercussions of their Aspiration scandal and NBA investigation.
And once again, the Thunder could benefit from that.
Expect the Clippers to be straight-up bad next season. As unreliable as Leonard was in his six years there, he had a career campaign last season. The 35-year-old suited up for 65 games and averaged a career-high 27.9 points. The All-NBA talent carried LA to the play-in tournament — despite saying goodbye to James Harden and Ivica Zubac at the trade deadline.
Now, that security blanket is gone. And as great of a head coach Ty Lue is, the high-end talent is no longer there. The Clippers’ best players are… checks notes… an inconsistent Brandon Ingram and an often-injured Darius Garland? Yeah, good luck sniffing 30 wins in the West.
If the Clippers finally bottom out, the Thunder would be a direct beneficiary. They own LA’s 2027 first-round pick swap rights. It was part of a modification to allow LA to acquire Harden from the Philadelphia 76ers in 2023. And to nobody’s surprise, the short-sighted move has come back to bite them.
As we enter the final years of the 2020s, let’s see if the Thunder can get one last drop of juice from their LA megadeal. Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams are two of OKC’s pillars for its championship window. Both were directly added from the Clippers’ shortcomings. Now, they get one last chance to add a premium lottery pick — new lottery odds withstanding — as a nice bow to tie on the most lopsided trade in NBA history.