It Is A Moral Imperative For The Rest Of The NBA To Improve The Clippers

The Oklahoma City Thunder are 21-1 and the prohibitive favorite to repeat as NBA champions this year; they also might improve dramatically this offseason. That is because the Thunder own outright the Los Angeles Clippers' first-round pick in the 2026 draft. The dark provenance of that pick is a 2019 trade between these teams in which the Thunder shed Paul George and acquired Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the rare "future podcaster" to "future MVP" upgrade.

Now the old and miserable Clippers, who at the outset of the season were projected by ESPN to win 49.7 games, are 6-16. On-court they appear unambiguously toilet-bound. Off-court they are apparently so dysfunctional that Chris Paul couldn't even complete his retirement tour without getting fired first. That all means that Oklahoma City is now on track to select a player in the highest reaches of the lottery, from a strong draft class, six months from now. It's a result that might effectively rule out title contention for 28 other NBA franchises.