Tim MacMahon: “The league is in a panic about the Thunder owning the Clippers’ picks these next couple years. This year outright, next year via swap.”
That’s not even the biggest issue involving the clippers that the league has to deal with lol
When the clippers get punished super hard for the aspiration scandal and it leaks that the owners didn’t even give a fuck about that they were all just pissed about them giving the thunder lottery pick after lottery pick
The League should punish the Clippers by making their picks top10 ineligible for the next 2 years.
They gifted Dallas the #1 pick. If it’s true “the league is in a panic” then they’ll give the Clippers like the 12 pick lol
If they’re that bad the worst they can be is like 4th or 5th
They’ll finish like the 8th worst team imo
^^please
Tanking teams need to start giving clippers some wins
Contenders should have more incentive as well lol
Oh man. All of Adam’s efforts to introduce parity and reduce tanking have led to a situation where one team is so overpowered that good teams have to intentionally lose to a bad team to try to prevent a team from becoming genuinely unbeatable.
That’s some Billy Shakespeare shit right there.
But they’ll just draft Jalen Williams #2 instead of Chet #2 then
Genius. Solves two current NBA problems and creates a world in which you cheat so hard that the worst that happens is the assets you offloaded are valueless.
The problem is that the league can’t do anything to the Clippers that’s worse than what the Clippers consistently do to themselves.
Clippers are now prohibited from scheduling Red Pandas halftime show.
Their punishment will have to start in like 2030 since OKC owns all their picks lmaoooo
“When the clippers get punished super hard for the aspiration scandal”
I have heavy doubts they will be punished super hard. This scandal has largely already been forgotten about so Silver is already happy enough. Sadly they’ll get a fine divided up between the owners and the league and hope people forget about it, just like hardly anybody even remembers Ballmer already got fined for salary cap circumvention in 2015 with DeAndre Jordan albeit this was a much more minor case.
Funny how that has been completely swept under the rug. Fuck Kawhi and his dog shit uncle.
The Kawhi era was the real punishment.
Honestly yeah. Just having that fuck is like being strapped to the rack.
Laughs in Kawhi
As a Raps fan, very happy to see this.
Lawrence Frank attending our games so brazenly to “scout” should have been investigated. I feel bad for clips fans, but the front office + ownership deserve this. Happy to see OKC do well as a small market team and Shai as a Canadian.
Remember Ballmer sitting courtside in a suit?
F them. Getting what they deserved.
Yeah, they got Kawhi, but we got a championship.
They got injuries, scandals, and a shite future.
They could have been what OKC is, but f’ed up big time.
Clips fans didn’t have a problem with any of the blatant tampering, I can’t say that I feel sorry for them.
The crazy thing is, back in 2019, I said we gave away too much for Mr. Glass Knees. The guy was already on that load management lifestyle, and if the Spurs basically cut him loose for it, then nobody should bet the farm on him. It’s like those morons didn’t even bargain with the guy.
The Spurs absolutely didn’t cut him loose and went through one of the most contentious player/org battles we’ve seen over the course of an entire season and off-season.
The relationship had eroded entirely before they finally moved on.
I mean, that’s the long version. The short version is Kawhi fucked the Spurs and they had enough of it and let him go. The guy has been coasting way too long without a label of being a piece of shit, just because he never talks to the media.
The spurs didn’t ’cut him loose’, he demanded out lol
So weird that the richest owner in the league with no one to keep him in check oversaw this debacle. It’s almost as if there’s more to this than just having money and acquiring superstars.
Could you imagine if the league was like for your punishment. You have to give up your future MVP, plus 5 first round picks. Also we are going to give your in town rival another generational talent.
You’ll have people to swarm you and tell you that the league is powerless to do anything or it “they’re just doing it right”
Even the appearance of this level of foul play should have already warranted suspensions during the ongoing investigation lol ballmer, his friend who delivered the money to aspirations, kawhi, his uncle and literally anyone else named should have been suspended until further notice
The owners own the league, and the other owners would rather stand by Ballmer unless they have no choice. Remember, Cuban didn’t even want Sterling gone despite the evidence.
Every report from insiders like Lowe has been the other owners are absolutely furious and want punishments.
Suspending anyone based on hearsay would be terrible for the NBA and would just leave them open to lawsuits.
Swept under the rug would be the NBA coming out and saying nothing happened, we should all move on.
They’re still going through it all.
Stalling until after the Clippers host All Star weekend, more likely
swept under the rug
TikTok and YouTube ‘investigations’ have ruined y’all’s perception of how a legal investigation process works 😭 shit could take years.
This isn’t a legal investigation and doesn’t rise to the standard of proof a government inquiry requires. There is more than enough evidence to say all the parties were aware of wrongdoing here
It has not been swept under the rug at all oh my god, they’re investigating, that takes time.
Three concurrent issues along with them just being generally terrible
“How can we distract from our giant salary cap scandal, everyone?”
“What if we just destroy parity for the rest of the decade?”
“Genius!”
At this point what do you even do to punish them? It’s like beating a dead horse
Void their 2026 and 2027 draft picks
Ha! Good one.
Wait what?
This is more “the rest of the league”
James harden is the only thing standing between okc and aj dybantsa
I’m way more worried that they end up with Boozer.
damn it just occurred to me him and Chet are a much made in heaven
much made in heaven indeed
Much too much
If that happens, clippers need to be folded as a franchise. The experiment has failed conclusively
Team should have moved to San Diego years ago. It’ll never happen now and Ballmer is too proud and arrogant and stupid to ever do something like that, but it would have been the best move for that franchise at so many different points in their history (yes I know they were there for a decade or so when they came from Buffalo, but San Diego then wasn’t what San Diego is now).
Nah Seattle was right there. Ballmer pays for his own stadium anyway so thats not an issue anymore. Microsoft roots and Seattle. Literally perfect
I used to feel the same but honestly I’d rather Seattle have an entirely new organization without any of the stink of the LA B-Team.
This. Seattle has a very respectable hoops culture, a new franchise needs to rise fresh from the roots.
It was only six years that they were actually in SD but you’re right
They’re lowkey up there for one of the most incompetent, problem-creating franchises ever.
And to top it all off, they’ve never even been particularly good outside Lob City, and a few Kawhi years.
BRING THEY ASS TO SEATTLE BABY!
I’d love for Seattle to get another team. But I wouldn’t wish the clippers on anybody. You’d be better off with an expansion team.
Top three or four this year are all good
Honestly even top 6 is a nightmare. Ament and Mikel Brown Jr. on the Thunder would be absurd too
Yeah normally most of these guys end up going to bad teams. I have to imagine going to OKC and not having all the pressure on them is going to be beneficial. As long as there are minutes available for them obviously.
You don’t understand the Thunder development process. Their roster is so deep that they just sit and rest anyone with a paper cut. There’s always minutes.
Also the starters dominate and sit out the 4th, giving the young guys run and a chance to make their name. It works well and everyone benefits/buys-in/makes friends for life.
Mitchell got a damn knee bruise and they pulled him for the game. Lol
Yeah I’m not even sure if Dybantsa would be the best fit. Cameron Boozer on the Thunder is terrifying.
Currently getting my boating license so I am prepared for the Booze Cruise. It’s very easy in Oklahoma because we are landlocked
We got plenty of lakes
I nearly sank a pontoon tubing in a thunderstorm on Lake Texoma. And people say there’s nothing to do out here…
Boozer is the best fit. He would literally be a plug and play player. Getting him would mean we could lose iHart and it wouldn’t affect us on the court defensively and offensively. Just imagine a cheaper and shorter iHart that can shoot threes now.
The Clippers are only one DeRozan or LaVine trade away from turning their season around. Ignore my completely unbiased flair.
Trade so good it will turn their season around 2x, 360 degrees
Why not LAvine AND DeRozan and do a 720
Try spinning, it’s a good trick
I concur. Preferably both
DeRozan and LaVine for Harden and Zubac clearly
Done. OKC will even throw in a pick to grease the wheels
This just in. The Clippers have traded unprotected 2030, 2031, and 2032 picks for LaVine, Brody, and Devlin Carter (to inspire the bench)
In a double swap to Sam Presti.
My God. Presti is going to force the league to put a cap on how many picks a team can own to protect some of these slow execs
Absolutely 2K type of shit where the only team who’s lost 1 game so far in the season may have 3 lottery picks in the upcoming draft
Imagine being such a dumbass (Lawrence Frank, backed by the only moron who could make Microsoft stock lose value, Steve Ballmer) that they might create a new rule to save you from yourself.
Let me introduce you to the Allan Houston rule…
Clips can only trade pics that are gonna be used on kids not even born yet lol
/jacknicholson gif
We must stop teams from expertly managing their resources.
Nico to OKC confirmed
Sources say Nico Harrison places SGA and Rudy Gobert in the same tier of talent
Probably right! Just think how tall Goober is, can’t teach height!
defense wins championships. how many rings does SGA have? i’ll wait.
Obviously have my issues with OKC but I wouldn’t wish that on a single team in the NBA.
Send that motherfucker to Payless to sniff rancid socks for the rest of his life.
You can’t spell Nico without OKC, unless you wanna spell it correctly
Unironically the league seems to want to more or less make building a good team through good decisions as hard and complicated as possible to do for the sake of “parity” in modern years. Isnt it great when key members of your core are basically required to switch teams every 3 years.
It has worked though. the 2020s have been an unprecedented period of parity in terms of the finals including multiple franchise winning their first finals since the merger.
It kinda sucks though low key. Like its fun to see new teams coming up but its not fun to watch rosters just kind of fall apart. Sometimes you see a team like this years Kings and its just the most random shit nobody would’ve really thought of and they were supposed to be good and on the come up just a couple of years ago lol
I don’t think they care about parity. I think the NBA is just mad it is OKC and not LA or Boston
Seeing as almost every rule change having to do with roster building and transactions in the past ~10 years or so have been explicitly for the opposite effect(making it hard for big market teams to make and retain superteams) I dont see how this is true.
Gotta send colangelo to the thunder
Set the burner account to simmer, its almost time
Damn you OKC for making sensible business decisions!
Lakers getting Worthy in the 80s seems so crazy today but now OKC is in a similar position.
For real, like what is the league supposed to do about it?
In other words, local thunder fans in great mood
I’m in Colorado and I’m in a good mood
Keeping an eye on your biggest competition?
Yeah I’ve been going undercover to nuggets games for 6 years. Always send a report back to home base.
Nah I love being right outside Denver. Get to see good basketball live and then root for my own good team.
My favorite time of year is when we come to town
We would have never beaten them last year without your intel bro, keep up the good work
Broomfield represent
Boulder/longmont myself
The 2nd best team has 16 wins, the Thunder are already at 35 😭
20-1, the best single season record is in jeopardy
I don’t think we get it. You guys didn’t secure the 1st seed until 69 fucking wins because of the spurs. At that point go for it.
Okc will rest some after 60 wins
If 74-8 is in play they will definitely go for it.
Going for it was a huge part in the warriors being tired in the playoffs in 16. Everyone would rather go 70-12 and repeat than 74-8 and not
Maybe, but the extra rest doesn’t guarantee you repeat.
You can try for the record and still repeat
But even when you guys play your bench you beat teams lol it might not even matter
The Thunder are gonna drop a game with ihart being out,its been an ugly struggle without him.
The league has a slightly more important thing to worry about right now.
Seriously. Get Giannis out of Milwaukee!
lol
I got a zach lavine for you to save your season
Aspiration? Gambling? Refereeing?
All three connected in some sort of unholy union?
Fr. Who’s gonna replace Kyle Lowry’s thick juicy tender mesmerizing cheeks
You didn’t see Nikola Topic’s during the ring ceremony?
When media say “the league” like this, they mean teams and their respective fans.
Dybantsa or Peterson maybe being drafted by the number 1 team is insane bro good Lord
It’s gonna be the 86 Celtics getting Len Bias but he doesn’t die.
GG
showtime Lakers getting James Worthy
Extremely high stakes jinx potential here sheesh
Hopefully for the leagues sake they don’t get the #1 pick and then hit em with my personal favourite Red Auerbach masterclass, trading the 1st and 13th overall pick for McHale and Parish.
Bro is forgetting the literal best fit stud that’s also in this draft, cam boozer lol. How you forget him?
Thunder fans sure are ecstatic
Confirmed
Do you think it might become boring if you never lose again?
nah there’s always Portland games
Why are they so spooky?
Big if true
Everyone needs to trade the Clips their good players and take Jazz good players. Maybe put Jazz good players on the Clips
Sounds like you’re mid stroke.
The only people mid stroke in this thread are thunder fans 😏
What’s funny is that LAC has pathways to mediocrity, but their FO’s tendencies have finally caught up to them. They have over relied on old players and acquisitions at the margin (which they tend to hit on), and completely whiff on the vast majority of their draft picks.
Finally missing on their marginal pickups (BroLo, Beal, and Cp3) coupled with years of shit drafting (Kobe Brown + Yanic in the late 1st) has left them with literally 0 depth and like 5 guys who are actually NBA level rotation players.
The Clippers have been in most of the games against average teams, then just die because Harden/Kawhi get tired and have no help. Had they been able to just get average bench production, they’re probably close to if not at .500. But instead of using MLE on a a younger guy like LaRavia (who fit a need and went for a portion of MLE), they used it on Brooke Lopez? Instead of drafting an obvious NBA level guy like Kalkbrenner, they took some random mid 2nd rounder (Yanic) who barely knows how to play the game. And for whatever reason, instead of getting a guy like Collin Sexton (who was free), they just… don’t and get 0 scoring off the bench.
Turns out, only getting old people on the decline and drafting like shit will EVENTUALLY come to bite you. LAC seriously needs to clean shop, because this shit won’t just magically get better in 4 years when they get their picks back.
I bet the Clips would be Jazzed about that.
The salt on this sub is OKC gets the #1 pick would be GLORIOUS
Lol imagine if they go back to back and then get the #1 pick.
I can’t get anymore turned on. Stop it.
I mean, I hate that they’re in the west and kick our ass but I’m happy it’s OKC and not someone like the Lakers or Celtics. Fresh franchise for a dynasty is fun to see
Thats a solid point. The Warriors were the “new dynasty” before. Maybe its OKCs turn.
I kinda wished it was the raptors, but what can you do?
Subscribe!!!
Not salt but “FEAR.”
How much more help does SGA need??
Lol. The fate of the league over the next decade could rest in the hands of James Harden this season.
We’re all cooked then lol. He played great for a stretch but Houston Harden aint walking through that door.
He had multiple chance to stop the Warriors fuckery and choked every time. No reason no to believe this time it will be the same
This was by far the worst trade in modern NBA history and I’ll die on that hill. Watch that pick from this year’s draft end up being top 3 and OKC adds either Dybantsa, Peterson or Boozer.
FUCK.
I’d label it more as one of the greatest trades of all time than worst. It was a genius move by Presti. Sure it blew up in the Clippers face. But there was reasoning behind it for them.
Meanwhile from Presti’s POV he laid the foundations for a potential dynasty.
And it was shitty talent recognition from Kawhi and the Clippers as well.
IIRC, Kawhi demanded a “second star” as a condition of joining because he felt the roster wasn’t good enough at the time. Yet that very roster won 48 games the previous season, took the KD Warriors to 6 games, and SGA was already looking like a super promising young piece. They never needed to make the PG trade to contend with Kawhi.
Making the trade was justifiable at the time for sure, but the way Kawhi acted like that was a scrub roster prior to him joining was a complete misread.
agreed, because it also got him out from westbrook in the most amicable way possible. perfect scenario.
100%. This led to us also trading Russ too. Presti had to publicly state multiple times that the rebuild was going to be a tough process for fans but he had a plan. Had to convince SGA to trust the process too and bought in.
Depending how the next few years go it’ll be the worst trade in history.
And if I’m the clippers in 2019 i do it 10⁄10 times knowing what we knew at the time. I give them props for swinging for it. Theres tons of universes where that team wins a ring
Yeah sometimes things just don’t work out. Also, the Thunder deserve a lot of credit for selecting J Dub with the 12th pick in 2022.
Until now, that was the one year when the clippers were genuinely bad and OKC fucking nailed the pick. They really made the most of that
I agree, they had to do it. It just ended up being the absolute worst outcome possible
Nothing is going to beat Luka to LA. The draft working out in their favor does not excuse that
Bad take. A trade is only bad if there is no defensible rationale. The Clippers assembled Harden, Kawhi, and PG at the same time. Absolutely worth mortgaging a future, a ring was within reach.
I don’t know how anyone can argue that this trade is worse than the Luka trade. The Mavs traded a clear Top 5 player (even out of shape) for a pick, a middling prospect, and an injury prone big (despite having 2 solid Cs) that is on the wrong side of 30 with a high contract.
Yes LAC’s ended up being worse, but they made a sensible decision with a bad outcome. Mavericks made a horrendous decision with a bad outcome.
no, it’s the luka trade, but this is second
ESPN writers love to push drama but I’d love to actually know the percentage these supposed league executives spend time to call Tim macmahon and essentially pillow talk about the league find it hard to believe
Silver is beside himself. Driving around downtown OKC begging (thru texts) Presti’s family for address to Sam’s home
Macmahon was the first to really seriously report Nico was being fired in Dallas. He’s plugged in.
They got a pick swap in 2027 too?!?!?!!! Yea brother that trade is the worst in history
Wrong. Trading Luka for AD is still much worse
I think the impact of the George trade is far worse.
But the Luka trade was indefensible even when it was made.
It still remains to be seen on the mavs side so I can’t really argue that. But at least the clippers trade in 2019 was a good trade. The Luka one was devastating from 0.0001 seconds after it was reported lol
You are right because we didn’t know that SGA would become what he is. If SGA had been what Luka is? It would EASILY be one of the worst trades in NBA history lol. The Luka one is worse because we all knew who Luka was going into it
If SGA was what Luka was, Kawhi wouldn’t have asked for a co star lol, and the front office probably woulda told his ass No 🤣
Hell no, at least not yet. OKC got a championship (SGA and Williams) and potentially has a top 10 pick in 2026 and 2027 coming from you guys 😭😭😭
Technically a different trade landed OKC the Clippers’ 2027 pick swap. OKC facilitated the LAC / PHI trade that sent Harden to the Clippers. Because the Clippers had traded all of those picks to OKC for PG, they couldn’t trade any future firsts due to the Stepien Rule, and had to get OKC involved. So, we gave PHI the worst of our 2026 LAC / HOU / OKC pick and received an unprotected LAC swap in 2027. We also got paid a cool 1MM in cash for the trouble.
Presti did some bad things to Lawrence Frank.
OKC collecting infinity stones like Thanos 😭😭😭
They’ve already collected them all they’re just snapping on the whole league now. About to turn half of em into dust.
I doubt they are in a “panic” more then just “mad or annoyed” at this point lol yall wanted the CBA a certain way and got it. Now they’re reaping those benefits. I ain’t OKC fan but it’s the game within the game. Nobody told them bum teams trade those picks. Got what you want
And Presti voted against this CBA. He tried to warn you.
What panic?
Good for OKC and Presti.
Build the team from the ground up and reap the rewards from it.
Hopefully, the stupid 2nd apron rules won’t keep the bonds of legacy fandom from growing while staying in contention for the better part of a decade.
The league won’t allow it, they’ll rig the draft
Draft lottery isn’t rigged. It’s just not. Plenty of reporters are in the room. You can watch the actual video. It’s not rigged. Zach Lowe has explained the whole thing very clearly. People like simple explanations for unlikely outcomes, but that doesn’t make them true.
Who’s the league? Adam Silver? NBA GMs and owners? Presti gets a huge W for shrewd management and roster construction and I hope the Thunder run the table for the next several years.
Kinda feels like he’s talking about the other 29 teams and not specifically the NBA league office. Not sure Adam Silver is really sweating the Thunder getting picks
To play a bit of the devils advocate, at what point is it like margin of diminishing returns for OKC with these picks? Like they are already super good lol, how much better can they be? Feels like they’re already in a good spot with the core of SGA, J Dub and Chet and move in and out pieces around them
Having these picks makes their window last so much longer. High upside cost controlled assets who have a lot more time to develop due to the talent in front of them, plus on a team who continually develops talent well (Wallace, Mitchell, Wiggins, etc.). Plus they can use them to salary dump when needed, or trade for more cost efficient assets, or accumulate picks later so they can do that down the line. The Thunder are so insanely well set up.
The idea that they can trade the players they can’t pay for MORE draft compensation down the line is even more terrifying
They’re insanely valuable. OKC as it stands can only build A team around Chet, Jdub, and SGA. The rest of the roster needs to be cheap role players. Imagine those role players being high end 1st round picks that’s just absurd. You’re getting all these insanely young talented guys AND they have an awesome infrastructure to become great. And they’re cheap lol.
With an intelligent front office, the answer can be two decades or more. The first part is easy. The SGA trade was six years ago. Now, OKC has a ton of picks, a ton of good players, and major cap issues looming.
Trade good players (Dort Wallace Etc) for more future first and second round picks, many of which will be in the early 2030s. Replace those traded players with the already acquired first round picks. Both of those steps will yield 10-15 years of players if they hit well.
Assume smart FO stays smart, drafts and signs well. Boom. 2 decades of talent.
They can always trade the pick out into later drafts. A top 5 this year could be worth 2-3 unprotected picks a few years out.
They are going to have to kick some of these picks down the road. They can’t afford to add 6 first round draft picks in the next two season, and swapping out rookies for proven contributors makes no sense until is actually necessary, but if they stagger it correctly they have the assets to keep adding contributors for the foreseeable future.
I think it’s the possibilities, they can keep drafting good young guys to replace the guys up for extensions while keeping their core. They can get lucky and hit on a star, it u Just gives them options tbh, especially because they can’t keep the exact team together much longer in today’s CBA. But I get what you’re saying hard to develop guys when you have your guys alread
I think it comes down to $ value on those rookie deals vs retaining role players. Over the next few years people will try pay Dort, Ajay, Caruso, Hartenstein, Wallace, Wiggins and Joe more than OKC can afford to with 3 max contracts on the books. Replacing them with top draft picks is an incredible opportunity to replace ralent going out the door.
The George trade has become the NBA’s equivalent of the Herschel Walker trade between the Vikings and Cowboys.
There’s been a strong therapist presence
y’all got any more of them draft picks?
Yet they are not in a panic to punish the Clippers for their cheating. Priorities.
Don’t let this panic distract you from the Clippers paying Kawhi under the table
I knew I was always right to hate the clippers
We chillin here in OKC
I really think the PG trade might have been worse than the Luka trade considering the results.