It's no secret that the Los Angeles Clippers gave up A LOT to trade for Paul George and thus helped the Oklahoma City Thunder win a championship. However, when looking at just how much they gave up, it's truly jarring. In 2019, the Clippers now infamously traded Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari, five first-round picks, and two pick swaps for George.
That already looks horrible for the Clippers, but when you consider what those picks turned into, things look even worse. (Some of the picks didn't convey, or the Thunder traded them.)
As you can see, the Thunder didn't just get their championship cornerstone in this trade; they got his elite co-star in Jalen Williams. The Thunder currently have an absurd 20-1 record, and they are going to add the Clippers' pick in a loaded 2026 draft class. LA currently has the fifth-best odds for the No. 1 pick. In a draft class with three No. 1-pick-worthy players, the Thunder could seemingly add one to an already stacked team.
While the Thunder have already won one championship, the Clippers only made one conference finals appearance in the PG-Kawhi Leonard era. As hinted at earlier, the Clippers are now at the bottom of the West with a 5-16 record. And oh, by the way, they let George walk in the 2024 offseason. Ultimately, this deal will forever go down as the fleece of the century for OKC.
This was the worst possible outcome from the PG trade
Honestly, I feel bad for the Clippers. Was it reckless to trade a future this many picks so far in the future and part ways with a promising second-year player? Absolutely. But the context of this trade is important; Kawhi wasn't going to sign with the Clippers unless they traded for George, so it was really a package deal.
It was risky at the time, there's no denying it. However, Kawhi was coming off a Finals MVP run with the Toronto Raptors, and George had just finished third in MVP voting with the Thunder. The Clippers were (and still are) a tortured franchise. Their 2021 conference finals run remains the deepest playoff run in franchise history. Swinging for the fences and trying to build a championship winner seemed like a worthy gamble in 2019.
Of course, injuries riddled this team, and they are left with the absolute worst-case scenario from this trade. However, there's a real scenario where this leads to a championship for the Clippers, and this trade doesn't look as lopsided. If Kawhi doesn't get injured in 2021, there's a strong chance they would have won that season or the following one.
At the end of the day, though, this will be remembered as one of the worst trades in NBA history.
Other lopsided trades
Now I know what you're thinking: didn't we just see the worst trade in NBA history with the Luka Dončić trade? To me, it's two different things. The Luka trade was the most indefensible process in league history, and the PG trade was the worst result in league history.
Now this could change and the Luka trade could be the worst on both fronts.
The Luka trade will likely end up setting the Dallas Mavericks back for years as well, and they ruined a prolonged title window. Regardless, after missing out on the playoffs (in part due to not having Luka), they landed Cooper Flagg in the draft. Pure luck? Absolutely. My point is that the Mavericks have somewhat of a future, whereas the Clippers ruined theirs with this trade.
However, process wise there's nothing worse than the Luka trade.
Another one of the worst trades in recent NBA history was the Brooklyn Nets' trading for an aging trio of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Jason Terry. The Boston Celtics got three first-round picks and a pick swap, which ultimately became Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown, paving the way for a 2024 championship run. From a value and ruining their future standpoint, this is the most comparable to the PG trade. Still, the extra draft capital involved makes the George trade more lopsided.
Some historical lopsided trades included Kareem Abdul-Jabbar being dealt to the Los Angeles Lakers and Charles Barkley being traded to the Phoenix Suns. Neither of these trades impacted the team's future draft capital in the same way that the George trade did, though.
If you want to make a case for one of these other trades, that's fine. However, there's no denying that the Paul George trade is at least one of the most lopsided in NBA league history.