OKC Thunder’s Historic Trade Listed In ‘Most Impactful Trades of the Last 10 Years’

Oklahoma City has been one of the most dominant teams in recent memory this season. Not only does the Thunder possess the best record in the NBA, but they are outscoring opponents by a jaw-dropping 13.0 points per game. The next closest team in the Western Conference is the Memphis Grizzlies, who are 7.5 games back and only outscoring opponents by 7.9 points.

Obviously, it’s a team effort. Oklahoma City is reaping their rewards from perfect team planning and a well-executed rebuilding strategy. The Thunder put the pieces in place for this team to be great. The biggest piece, though, was the first one. The Shai Gilgeous-Alexander trade signaled a rebuild for the Thunder, propelling the franchise into a new era. 

Nobody could’ve predicted that Gilgeous-Alexander would be quite this good. He gave Oklahoma City its biggest piece to the rebuild right away. The draft picks ended up being icing on the cake.

This week, with a crazy trade deadline, Bleacher Report examined some of the biggest trades over the last 10 years. Obviously, Gilgeous-Alexander’s trade between the Thunder and the Clippers was listed, and it might be the most impactful trade of them all. Depending on how successful Oklahoma City is over the next decade, this trade could be analyzed for the rest of time.

“The Thunder built a powerhouse team based on their trade with the Clippers,” Eric Pincus wrote. “It's arguably too early to crown this as the most impactful trade, as Oklahoma City hasn't won a title yet. Still, it was the overwhelming favorite of the executives and agents polled in Orlando. "It may go down as the worst trade in NBA history," one executive said (though another countered "best" from the Thunder's perspective).”



“Gilgeous-Alexander is an MVP candidate. Jalen Williams was a steal. Oklahoma City still has a long list of draft picks (continuing to swap extra picks, like the one for Jaquez, for even more future selections), a young, talented roster and projects to finish with the best record in the conference for two straight years.”

Anthony Davis to the Lakers and then to the Mavericks, Luka Doncic’s draft night trade, and Demarcus Cousins to New Orleans are a few of the other game-changing trades over the last decade that come to mind.

Gilgeous-Alexander has given the Thunder everything they could’ve asked for as a return for Paul George years ago. He’s heading for his third straight All-NBA First Team selection, the front runner for MVP, and another season averaging over 30 points per game. The fact that Oklahoma City received a record-breaking amount of draft capital, one of those picks being Jalen Williams, will always be shocking.