LA Clippers’ Woes Will Help Surging OKC Thunder

Ajay Mitchell has broken out in just his second season, averaging 16.3 points on 45% shooting while the rest of the Thunder rotation plays at an All-Defense level on that side.

And even still, the rich only get richer, as the Thunder are likely to nab the Clippers’ 2026 first-round pick this season. And to make matters worse for the rest of the league, LA doesn’t seem inclined to make the postseason this year.

The Thunder acquired the Clippers’ 2026 first in the now-infamous Paul George trade, but sent the least favorable of its 2026 picks away. There’s a microscopic chance LA’s pick doesn’t land with OKC, but for all intents and purposes the Thunder will be picking in that slot this year.

With that out of the way, the Clippers — having lost to the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday night — now stand at just 4-10 on the season. With little real hope on the horizon.

LA currently ranks 25th in defensive rating, and has seen necessary players in Bradley Beal and Derrick Jones Jr. go down within the last few weeks due to injury. They needed a gargantuan performance from former MVP James Harden just to outlast the similarly woeful Dallas Mavericks in extra innings just days ago.

There’s merit to the Clippers eventually figuring things out down the road due to pure talent level. But it hasn’t happened yet, and they’re beginning to dig themselves a real hole in a tough Western Conference.

But what are the actual implications of all this? Will one first round pick conveying to OKC actually spell doom for the rest of the league?

In this upcoming class, it very well could.

The 2026 NBA Draft is slated to have the most talent seen in a class in literal decades, offering three No. 1-level picks in Darryn Peterson, AJ Dybantsa and Cameron Boozer, as well as a host of other talented true freshman and returnees.

The odds that the Clippers pick conveys to OKC in the top three are slim, both where they currently stand and where they will end up. But the prospect of the Thunder landing any of Peterson, Boozer or Dybantsa in their current state is unprecedented and unfathomable.

Even garnering a top-10 pick via the trade that landed a Finals MVP in OKC a half-decade ago would be a massive win, considering the talent that gets pushed further down by the top tier.

The league isn’t yet at DEFCON 1 regarding the Thunder and Clippers’ situations, but a few more weeks of respective winning and losing could send alarm bells ringing.