L.A. Clippers Early Season Tumble Impacts OKC Thunder

The NBA season is still young, nothing is set in stone. However, team's have played enough games for the general public to begin making sweeping statements. Some of which will be funny to look back on in a few weeks as information continues to pile in.

For the Oklahoma City Thunder, the start to this season has been received positively. The team is 8-1 despite battling compounding injuries while playing the most games in the league. All the while, he OKC Thunder continue to boast the NBA's best defense and second best net rating.

As Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has already brought home one player of the week award and bench guard Ajay Mitchell seems to be the front runner for the sixth man of the year, there has been plenty of excitement around Bricktown.

The Thunder are hoping to buck the current trend of parity in the NBA. The past seven seasons have each seen unique champions, while the previous six title teams have failed to make it out of the second round. Oklahoma City, after hoisting the Larry O'Brien in June, retained 99% of their championship squad to add to this hot start.

Though, this potential dynasty was built on the back of acquiring draft picks and savvy trades from General Manager Sam Presti in particular with the L.A. Clippers. Presti shipped away Paul George while landing a historic haul of future picks, which has already included All-NBA swingman Jalen Williams, in addition to superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

The Oklahoma City Thunder sit atop the Western Conference standings, as they aim for their third straight no. 1 seed, they have the chance to control up to four first round picks in the 2026 NBA Draft.

One of them is owed to the Bricktown Ballers from the L.A. Clippers via a pick swap. If the season ended today, the Clippers sitting at 3-5, have the seventh best odds to win the lottery and this unprotected selection could be very beneficial if this early season stumble continues.

The Clippers own the 26th ranked defense and the once thought to be contenders have been forced to field skepticism about their future. However, it is important to note that L.A. will in all likelihood still finish in the postseason in some capacity in the Western Conference.

Oklahoma City should be hoping the Clippers find their way to the play-in tournament, taking the 2022 path to a lottery pick by being bounced before the playoffs in the two game tournament format.