NBA Rumors: Did the Oklahoma City Thunder want to blow the team up heading into the summer? If so, it leads to more questions than answers
The Oklahoma City Thunder made two of the bigger moves of the offseason. First, by trading Paul George to the Los Angeles Clippers (who were trying to lock down Kawhi Leonard) and, second, by moving Russell Westbrook to the Houston Rockets.
There weren’t many answers to why the team suddenly decided to part ways with what many considered to be a contender in the Western Conference – even more so considering Kevin Durant elected to head East – but the prevailing opinion was that George wanted out and then Westbrook asked for a trade after the team granted George’s his request.
Though, perhaps that’s not the entire truth. And a recent quote from Clippers head coach Doc Rivers kind of throws a wrench in that entire idea.
More from Sir Charles In Charge
- Dillon Brooks proved his value to Houston Rockets in the 2023 FIBA World Cup
- NBA Trade Rumors: 1 Player from each team most likely to be traded in-season
- Golden State Warriors: Buy or sell Chris Paul being a day 1 starter
- Does Christian Wood make the Los Angeles Lakers a legit contender?
- NBA Power Rankings: Tiering all 30 projected starting point guards for 2023-24
Per the LA Times, Rivers suggests that the Clippers knew that the Thunder wanted to break up their team. Which can be constructed a number of different ways.
"“We did know that Oklahoma City wanted to break their team up, so that helped, but we didn’t know if we could get him.”"
First, does this mean that the Thunder wanted a complete rebuild or wanted to break up Paul George and Russell Westbrook? Tough to say. However, there were absolutely no trade whispers until the Thunder shocked the world in the middle of that July night.
It’s all just odd, but this recent Rivers quote does shed some light on what was a chaotic offseason for the Thunder. Assuming Rivers is telling the truth, this is some thick information.
Which leads us to a bigger question: did the Thunder want to blow up the team heading into the summer? If so, why did they wait until after the NBA Draft to make a big move, considering it probably would’ve made more sense for them to get some draft capital in this past year’s draft?
At the same time, why weren’t any other teams involved in potential trade discussions? It simply doesn’t make all that much sense. However, as is always the case in the NBA, you can’t completely discredit Rivers here.
As you’d expect, this entire situation will be one of the bigger mysteries in league history. Perhaps when we get the 30 For 30 on the Thunder, we’ll get the answer to this question.
However, if the Thunder already knew that they wanted to “break up their team” heading into the summer, there are a ton of more questions that they need to answer.