The Clippers gave up Five first round picks, Two first round pick swaps, and Shai [a future MVP candidate], never making it past the Western Conference Finals

TIL the Sixers have two of the Clippers' future draft picks.

Don’t think I’ve ever heard “never making it past the Western Conference Finals” before as if that’s some early round.

Sixers did none of that, drafted 3 first overall picks, drafted an MVP, and haven’t even made it out of the second round.

You do this 10/10 times.

They also got Kawhi right after he won with Toronto. OKC were always the beneficiaries of this deal because they only needed to throw in PG but the deal was always all of those picks+Shai for Paul George AND Kawhi

It turned our poorly but it was completely reasonable gamble.

Hindsight is really important, we had just got a FMVP and 2x champion and a top 3 MVP candidate.

Nobody could have predicted the result, but just TLDR, Kawhi and Paul George from 20-24 played only 26 playoff games together.

It did not work out as intended but well... it was out of our control tbh

At that time the trade was for a fmvp ang pg who was top 3 in mvp voting.

Trade was just terrible because they didnt win the nba championship

Still do that trade 10/10 times, is what it is that it didn't work out.

Edit: If you wouldn't trade a person who didn't make top 5 in ROY votings + some picks for two people who were top 5 in MVP voting in the prior season and both having deep playoff runs with one of them having two rings(one won in the season before), you're actually mentally deficient, IDK what to tell you, stop eating paint chips.

stop david aldridge said not to clown them!

And you do that trade every single time. Every FO in that situation, in that year, make that trade. I hate the revisionist history some people have. No one knew SGA was going to be an MVP candidate. Imo, if you play this out 1000 times. This is one of the worse ways it turns out.

Definitely not one of the worst trades in history, a WCF appearance and being derailed by injuries saves it from that.

But it was an “all in” move that didn’t pay off and is going to hamstring the franchise for the foreseeable future.

In comparison, the Garnett-Pierce-Johnson Nets was a way worse roster/trade situation (IMO) and it’s miraculous they bounced back as fast as they did

Clippers were a laughingstock, it takes years to change that culture. The Blake/CP3 era started it but the Kawhi/PG3 windfall cemented it. They chose LAC over LAL and really anywhere in the league. They didn’t win enough due to injuries, but the perception change may have been worth it

People should be clowning Kawhi if anything. If he didn’t demand them to go get PG or Jimmy in order to sign, they would’ve been in an inviable position.

Should’ve went for Durant or Jimmy butler instead. Apparently those 2 are who Kawhi wanted before settling on George

Yes but they were /r/nba's preseason champions every year

RIP "on paper" Clippers 2019-2024

Uhhh I believe we were all just specifically asked not to clown on them.

Yeah with hindsight it’s a bad look but it was worth it at the time. Getting PG got them Kawhi. Everyone thought they’d be great, just didn’t work

Everyone playing Monday morning QB. At that time the trade was the right move and every team does it.

it was a good try - can’t fault them for trying

Clippers have been the most consistent winning team in the entire nba the last 15 years or so which is crazy considering who they used to be

Everyone wants to defend the Clippers for some reason.

Yes. It was.

Interesting. Nobody's mentioned this yet

Rest in piss

But apparently we can't clown them because trades can't be judged by results but only by initial vibes I guess.

The harden trade is arguably even worse. Makes it so they can’t start building through the draft until 2030 lmao

They definitely lost the trade but comparing stats is dumb. Shai had to be the stat stuffer his 1st few years and now he's the main guy. PG signed with the Clips expecting to play 2nd fiddle to Kawhi

I remember being terrified of the Clippers. Sucks how it played out and ofc OKC won the trade. But the Lakers did the same type of trade and won it. It happens.

We were robbed of Nets/Clippers final in 2021

But next five years are Pat Bevs

OKC is the reigning defending having a lot of draft picks champions of the world.  

Are they dumb?

Clippers gonna Clip..

I hate titles that leave out important context. The trade was the right move to make, they just never made it past the WCF because they had next levels of bad luck with injures in all but one playoff run. 4 straight years of PG and/or Kawhi not being healthy during the playoffs. Just horrific bad luck.

Lol

Hindsight is 20/20. They made a big swing to become a contender, it hasn’t worked out, but that’s the kind of thing you need to do as a team sometimes lest you languish in “pretty good” mediocrity and wash out in or before the first round every year. I love hating on the Clippers and I will hate on them for all that irritating advertisement that went up after these moves were made — “Earned, not bought,” “Streetlights over spotlights,” etc, I will laugh at the Clippers fans I know who were gloating to me like PG and Kawhi were a better duo than LeBron and AD, but the team still ultimately made a perfectly reasonable move imo

Lakers Westbrook trade still trumps this

Give me more of this lmao

I think any franchise that takes a swing like the Clippers should get clowned for it. You don’t get Kawhi, without PG. Unfortunately, the franchise decided to listen to Kawhi and have two star calibre players with the same skill set and same glass bones to lead everyone to the promised land. It was a stupid trade back then and the recent news solidifies how dumb it actually is.

No, this was not a good trade. I don't care about hindsight. You trade five firsts for a title, not a conference finals appearance.

No, it's not the worst trade in NBA history. The worst trades are those that you know right at that very moment they are terrible. Clippers went all in and it merely didn't work out for them as they hoped. That's all.

And every single one of us would make that trade 10/10.

The trade was for Kawhi and PG. Kawhi wasn’t signing if they didn’t get PG. They traded away the future for a present with Kawhi AND PG.

The media narrative about how badly the Clippers played this and how bad PG13 was is getting out of control.

In hindsight, their attempt at the super team probably wasn't worth it, but it was their first conference finals in franchise history, and they made the playoffs 4/5 years, which is way better than any pre-CP3 Clipper era. They got some stars, rolled the dice, and it just didn't work out. It was shorter-lived than a long-term build around SGA would've been, but also had a higher floor, as they knew they were getting a winning team with Kawhi and George, whereas picks have higher variability.

Idk, they were better than most franchises were these past 5 years. At least they took a swing.

Why not just say never made the finals

One of the all time L trades wow

Yes. Everyone understands. We TRIED unlike these other mid teams. It didn’t work out. Time to move on

Guys I sincerely apologize for offending anyone named David Aldridge, I will make sure to stop my meanie butt behavior.

I know people are gonna clown the clippers for letting him walk for nothing after all they gave up, but 100% of the GMs in the league would’ve made that trade too

I still can't believe the Clippers had a front row seat to SGA every day and eagerly dumped him because Uncle Dennis liked the PG/KL fit on NBA2K. some franchises deserve the place they're in.

Making the NBA finals is really tough

Depends what OKC does. If OKC doesn't win a ship or reach a finals, than its just a wash and no one won.

I forgot, how many times did the Thunder go to the finals with SGA and all those picks?

Is that bad?

So is Tree going to do a video on the Clippers? Or maybe Dylan Does Basketball or Jay Warvz?

They only gotta wait 5 more years to be able to make a trade like that again

And yet I’d take a healthy clips + PG over a healthy Philly + PG but neither are ever healthy so it’s a wash

oh shit no way

It’s not a bad thing to go for it sometimes and try to win. It didn’t work out but it made sense at the time. Maybe it was a little too much to trade but I can’t shame a team for trying to win a championship

Leonard and George played exactly 3 full playoff series together. They won 2 of them.

Which players did OKC end up drafting?

y'all should be thanking Clippers. without this trade, Kawhi would land in Lakers with LBJ and AD.

You forgot the most important stat when evaluating that trade: Games played.

i mean they did better then some other teams ;P

They became the number 1 title favorites because of the trade so at the time it was fine. It just ended up being a disaster, but Ballmer is used to that based on his track record as Microsoft CEO.

And they got J Dub and Cason I think too. They got their 2nd best scorer and a great up and coming guy who got playoffs minutes.

They had to win in 2020 man,  that was the one year everyone was healthy. 

In 2019, PG13 and Kawhi were two of the best wings just entering their primes and kawhi coming off a championship run in Toronto. It was a lot to give up for PG but I’m sure Frank and Balmer would do the trade again as it did change the clippers culture and make them real players in the league. 5 good years together just injuries killed them and derailed any sort of championship aspirations they had

Still a success for the Clippers, since they never appeared in a Conference Finals in their 50 year history prior.

Sometimes it be like that

Do the suns in 2 years. 

They should have given him the extra year

I mean we got a whole year media hyping them up and couple of months mocking them for blowing a 3-1 lead. That's worth it for me considering how tough that year was.

I just love how everyone all of a sudden just 100% knew that the guy who scored 10 ppg as a rookie would become a top 5 player in the game, and should have never been traded.

Super teams eh... Suns fan nodding sadly

You’d still always go for Kawhi/PG. Giving up Shai was the real killer here, but I don’t think anyone really thought he was going to become better than George.

Not future, current MVP candidate

I still don't know why they traded Shai. Dude should have been untouchable. Not hindsight. I questioned that trade when it went down.

You make those trades every time. If Kawhi was healthy they'd have a chip.

Clippers were getting both Kawhi and PG.

PG was coming in 2nd in MVP voting, first team all NBA

PG wasn’t some scrub

You make that trade 10/10 times

On the flip side, also in hindsight, masai would’ve made the “worst” trade in Leonard if raptors didn’t win the chip…

PG13 made quite a few teams think he was the missing piece to get over the championship hump over the years, but the ROI has been terrible.

In a world where injuries don’t happen the clippers get a chip or two. Too bad Kahwi was way too injured.

I still believe Kawhi would have gone to the Clippers with or without PG. Kawhi is a quiet guy who avoids the spotlight so the Lakers, especially with LeBron, doesn’t seem like his kind of team. Maybe he stays in Toronto but I believe he really wanted to go back to California and bluffed about PG being a must and the Clippers caved.

Hell yeah.  Shai is infinitely better than pg and kawhi 

They made the WCF for the first time their entire history, and were pretty relevant to the championship conversation his entire tenure.

Trade was worth it

How do the clippers not have a pick until 2030 with the Stepien rule?

your hate boner is showing

Me, using my brain: of course without hindsight you make that trade every time Me, using my soul: Ha Ha eat shit clippers

And one epic 37’ FTW bucket…

They might have won a ship if Kawhi doesn’t get hurt that one year. Damn shame

did we need statmuse to tell us that the clippers never made the finals? xd

One of the worst organizations lmao

Kawhi was healthy for one of those 5 years.

Never making it past the Western Conference Finals?! Even making it TO the Western Conference Finals is an awesome achievement. Yeah, it didn’t result in a championship. Few teams ever do. That doesn’t mean it was a bad trade or the the Clippers shouldn’t have done it, that’s the tradeoff for every big move.

Poverty franchise taking poverty decisions. Nothing to see here

Looking back on it...probably one of the worst trdes in recent memory...Clipper won nothing and OKC only got better.

If they just listened to Jerry West, they would be coming into their new arena a contender.

This trade is rapidly approaching Billy King-Pierce-Garnett levels of being disastrous. SGA alone has far surpassed even prime PG, that plus the immense draft capital is just absurd.

Eh all they needed was one healthy post season for a whole post season which was in the cards. No point clowning them when they were competitive this whole time and just couldn’t get over the hump