Teams around the NBA are panicking over the OKC Thunder obtaining the LA Clippers’ 2026 1st Round pick in the NBA Draft Lottery

[LV Koopa]

Only reason I say that is because of the outcome. Now, if Luka can get the Lakers a ring, I'd probably walk that back. Hell, he doesn't even need an MVP.

I remember the SGA trade and even I was like "Clippers just guaranteed their fans a title"

Yea but we can't judge trades purely by outcome. Have to go with what was known at the time.

Unfortunately for the Clippers, Lakers robbed Dallas and looks like they may have the 2nd best shot at a ring for the next 2 years.

So, they failed with the Kawhi/PG era, might lose the Kawhi/Harden era, and have to watch as their biggest rival and trade partner ping-pong chips for the next 3 years. And get it done for less than what the Clippers paid over the past 5 years.

Absolutely brutal

 

[Osmar]

It can potentially get worse, better hope the Clippers and Mavs improve over the next 2-3 years

Nuggets 2029 1st (protected 1-5)
76ers 2026 1st (protected 1-4)
Mavs 2028 1st swap (unprotected)
Clippers 2027 1st swap (unprotected)
Clippers 2026 1st (unprotected)
Jazz 2026 1st (protected 1-8)

 

[CHICAGO]

The reason why this isn’t as bad as the Luka trade is because FWIW, this is as good as the Clippers have ever been. It’s just dwarfed by how OKC has managed things AND the prizes of the deal (Kawhi and Paul George) can’t stay healthy for shyt.

This looks so much worse now because the Clippers have been ass to start. In reality, OKC been eating off them even when the Clippers were good.

THE LOB CITY ERA WAS
JUST A FEW YEARS BEFORE
THIS TRADE AND THE SGA CLIPPERS
HAD JUST TAKEN THE KD WARRIORS
TO 6 GAMES WHERE KD HAD
TO DROP A 50 PIECE ON EM.

YOU ACTING LIKE THE CLIPS
WERE THE WIZARDS BEFORE
KAWHI CAME THROUGH.

THEYVE BEEN IN THE
SAME SPOT FOR THE LAST 15 YEARS


​

 

[Hersh]

even if they don't get a high pick what's stopping them from consolidating most the picks and goin for the number 1 pick for fukkery.. lol.

but I don't everyone scared.. teams big upfront lines and length typically play them well

 

[Jerz]

Kawhi and Harden, not ending up in no lottery. And Clippers reloading with all that cap space next yr. Fun convo tho

 

[Unbothered]

The Clippers are 5-15...

That's a dayum shame .

 

[Regular_P]

Not the same. Paul George was coming off an MVP level season in OKC. What killed the Clippers was Kawhi's insistence on getting PG which hampered their leverage and forced unprotected picks into the deal. But no one at the time was blaming the Clippers for doing it.

Shai was seen as a good prospect, and a future starter level player in LA. Some people (like myself) thought he MIGHT be an All Star based on his advanced numbers. It wasn't until a year after the trade anyone pegged him as sure-fire All Star. Then another (when CP3) left for him to even be considered close to MVP level. Shai was not a surefire thing so let's not pretend that.

It took like 15 things to occur for OKC to get this roster (Chet getting injured his rookie year was another one). The J-Will pick (many people on this damn board who don't watch games didn't know who he was until the playoffs), the Hartenstein theft from the Knicks (monster per minute numbers, Knicks let him go), the Caruso trade - OKC put in work. It wasn't just "stock draft picks and profit".

AD and Luka are different because both are pretty much 100% known commodities. With Luka just coming off a Finals berth and MVP level season. The trade was bad and WOAT level the minute it occurred because Dallas would eat all of the downside. And that's exactly what's occurring now as they are looking to move AD.

The first two years of Kawhi/PG, also the COVID years, were when LAC had their best shots. EVERYONE had them as contenders.

In the Bubble, a collision course with the Lakers seemed inevitable but then they blew that 3-1 series lead to Denver. The next season, they beat Utah while missing Kawhi in the last two games to get to the WCF, but without Kawhi, they didn't have enough for Phoenix. If Kawhi played that postseason all the way through, there's a really good chance they win the title and we look at this all differently.

But none of that happened and we are where we are.

 

[Goat poster]

The NBA is getting better at developing players with the 2 way contracts and the G league being used the way its supposed to in many cases.

Which means EVERY draft pick is becoming valuable ( what pick was Jokic again?)

 

[duckbutta]

Why so they can draft a guy who won't play or come off the bench?

Boozer going to be taken number 1 overall by the thunder and be a backup center when they decline 1%stein option

Does OKC even have the caproom to pay a top 5 pick?

 

[cartierhoe]

Not the same. Paul George was coming off an MVP level season in OKC. What killed the Clippers was Kawhi's insistence on getting PG which hampered their leverage and forced unprotected picks into the deal. But no one at the time was blaming the Clippers for doing it.

Shai was seen as a good prospect, and a future starter level player in LA. Some people (like myself) thought he MIGHT be an All Star based on his advanced numbers. It wasn't until a year after the trade anyone pegged him as sure-fire All Star. Then another (when CP3) left for him to even be considered close to MVP level. Shai was not a surefire thing so let's not pretend that.

It took like 15 things to occur for OKC to get this roster (Chet getting injured his rookie year was another one). The J-Will pick (many people on this damn board who don't watch games didn't know who he was until the playoffs), the Hartenstein theft from the Knicks (monster per minute numbers, Knicks let him go), the Caruso trade - OKC put in work. It wasn't just "stock draft picks and profit".

AD and Luka are different because both are pretty much 100% known commodities. With Luka just coming off a Finals berth and MVP level season. The trade was bad and WOAT level the minute it occurred because Dallas would eat all of the downside. And that's exactly what's occurring now as they are looking to move AD.

This, every GM in the NBA in 2019 is doing that PG/SGA trade without question. You get an MVP level player to pair him up with the reigning FMVP you take that gamble every time, it just didn't work out. With Nico, no GM is doing that trade, the two trades aren't comparable. Nico's shyt was WOAT, he traded a top 5 player entering his prime for an injury prone big man at 31, he also didn't get Reaves out of the deal. Nobody knew SGA would be a perennial MVP candidate coming off his rookie season, whoever says they did are straight up lying. The Clippers gamble just didn't work out, shyt happens.

Oh and btw, the Mavs are already trying to unload AD

WOAT fukking trade

 

[Primetime]

The first two years of Kawhi/PG, also the COVID years, were when LAC had their best shots. EVERYONE had them as contenders.

In the Bubble, a collision course with the Lakers seemed inevitable but then they blew that 3-1 series lead to Denver. The next season, they beat Utah while missing Kawhi in the last two games to get to the WCF, but without Kawhi, they didn't have enough for Phoenix. If Kawhi played that postseason all the way through, there's a really good chance they win the title and we look at this all differently.

Things could have been a lot different but none of that happened and we are where we are.

I remember they were just about to tie the series 2-2 vs UTA in game 4 and i had the game on in the background when i heard they talk about Kawhi was walking a little gingerly after Joe Ingles bumped him in a semi transition foul... I saw the replay and didn't think anything of it...

... dude didn't play another game that post-season

Worst part was he didn't need to be pushing the ball up the floor like that as they had the lead and no advantage on the break, literally no reason to force that situation with Ingles riding your hip (pause).

That's really when i thought yea it just might not be meant to be with this one. The simplest ankle roll and he out for a month. Any type of bump of knees and it's half a year with a torn meniscus.

 

[FakeNews]

Feel bad for whatever rookie goes top 3 to okc. Growth instantly stunted nikka might not even play

Thats why I wouldn't be surprised if Dybansta and his team try to indicate to OKC that he doesn't want to go there.. Strikes me as a player that is going to want to go somewhere where he can be the man pretty quickly and not be stuck on the bench his first couple years

 

[MicIsGod]

Thats why I wouldn't be surprised if Dybansta and his team try to indicate to OKC that he doesn't want to go there.. Strikes me as a player that is going to want to go somewhere where he can be the man pretty quickly and not be stuck on the bench his first couple years

Hell if I’m boozer I’m not going there either. Peterson? Yeah lemme go be Sga’s back up This might get interesting.

 

[SchoolboyC]

Thats why I wouldn't be surprised if Dybansta and his team try to indicate to OKC that he doesn't want to go there.. Strikes me as a player that is going to want to go somewhere where he can be the man pretty quickly and not be stuck on the bench his first couple years

It wouldn’t be shocking, there were players having their agents play those same type of games when the Celtics were eating off those Nets picks

But at the end of the day sometimes going somewhere you have to earn everything instead of having it handed to you makes you a better player

 

[FTBS]

100%.

The picks don't matter nearly as much compared to say, the NFL....unless you draft a stud or miss out on an elite, All-NBA breh.

Clips gave up too much and weren't nearly as close as they thought they were. Teams shouldn't make those kinds of moves unless they're right on the cusp or lost in the Finals with a young squad.

PG is to OKC what Herschel Walker was to the Cowboys.

The Clips were close. New Jordan and Pippen didn't close the deal. Thats on them...especially considering how Kawhi masterminded this whole thing. They had a wide open path to a ring that first year and choked. This thing looks much different if they at least got a ring to show for it.

Interesting comp there. If OKC becomes what they look like they can be, I can see PG trade replacing Walker trade in sports discussion.