The Oklahoma City Thunder are on top of the NBA world after winning their first title in 2025.
No doubt, much of that championship can be attributed to the brilliant trading of general manager Sam Presti. Presti has been at the helm of the franchise since 2007, and has overseen some massive changes during that time.
Perhaps no trade has had a bigger impact than Presti's trade of Paul George to the Los Angeles Clippers in 2019. The Thunder acquired George in the summer of 2017 to make up for the loss of Kevin Durant.
George had a successful tenure with the Thunder, earning All-Star selections in both of his seasons. However, Presti decided to ship George out in the summer of 2019 for a massive haul that included franchise star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
In total, the Thunder received, Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari, Miami’s 2021 unprotected first-round pick (Tre Mann), 2022 unprotected first-round pick (Jalen Williams), Miami’s 2023 lottery-protected first-round pick (Jaime Jaquez Jr.), 2023 first-round swap (unexercised), 2024 unprotected first-round pick (Dillon Jones), 2025 first-round swap (No. 24, up from No. 30), and a 2026 unprotected first-round pick.
Gilgeous-Alexander alone would've made this more than worth it, but add in Jalen Williams and all the other picks, and this is a massive haul.
Dan Favale of Bleacher Report recently ranked this haul as the biggest of the last 10 years. Regarding the swap, Favale offered the following:
Even if we remove the benefit of hindsight, this return for the Thunder wins in a borderline landslide. Five first-round picks, two swaps and a promising prospect is a return unlike anything else we've seen the past 10 years, particularly when you consider that George asked Oklahoma City to facilitate his relocation to L.A.. Instead of getting railroaded by the Clippers, Thunder general manager Sam Presti essentially found a way to trade both PG and Kawhi Leonard, even though the latter never played for his team.
Cake in the luxury of hindsight, and forget about it.
Gilgeous-Alexander has morphed into a league MVP and head of the snake for a potential NBA champion. Another one of those selections turned into J-Dub, who's now an All-NBA player himself. Oklahoma City also turned what was the Jaquez pick into this year's No. 15 selection.
As Favale mentioned, this return is unlike anything we've seen in the last decade, or perhaps ever.
Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams are not only the two best players on the team, but also two of the best in the NBA. Gilgeous-Alexander won the MVP Award after his phenomenal regular season, and followed it up by winning the NBA Finals MVP.
Williams, meanwhile, earned his first All-Star bid during the 2024-25 season, and appears set to be a cornerstone in OKC for years to come.
Meanwhile for the Clippers, this trade never came close to being even. If the team had won a Finals with George, it could perhaps be worth it, but the team only advanced to the Western Conference Finals once with George.
Last offseason, George departed for the Philadelphia 76ers in free agency, enshrining this trade as one of the worst in recent memory, at least for the Clippers.