The Clippers cook with their own ingredients: The Day After Report

The Thunder still aren’t very good at tanking. As I’m sure you know, OKC controls the Clippers in the first round this season. In another victory, Oklahoma City dismantled the Clippers while simultaneously improving its rankings in both the real standings and the reverse standings. OKC maintained its grip on home field advantage and had a shot at the winning record, while LA dropped its fifth straight and maintained its grip on the laughingstock of the league.

Final: Thunder (25-2) def. Hair Clippers (6-21), 122-101

• The Clippers jumped out to an early 10-3 lead and led by 11 after the first quarter after a legitimately good offensive performance. Kawhi Leonard, Bogdan Bogdonovic and the gang shot 63.6% to open the game, knocking down early threes and briefly looking like they belonged in the same league as the Thunder.
• OKC wasn’t exactly shocked. No James Harden for LA, which meant almost no ball handling. The Oklahoma City Dogs made life miserable for Clippers players who were just trying to advance the ball to a set on the offensive court. It seemed about as fun as getting a call for a job you can’t do on national television.
• I could make a dozen Thunder takedowns on the Clippers’ “don’t-want-to-be-here.” Alex Caruso, Ajay Mitchell, and Jalen Williams eating Kawhi Leonard’s lunch were my favorite:

• DT commentator WilliamHurst noted, “Cason Wallace has five steals in 29 minutes and that’s insane, but Caruso somehow surpassed that with four steals in just 15 minutes.”
• Jalen Williams continued to look great as a playmaker in both transition and in the half court, doing his best Josh Giddey impression on this assist to Chet Holmgren in the first:

• Shai was the killer again in the third quarter, forcing OKC to strengthen its lead and take away any hope its first franchise had of winning the game.
• SGA finished with 32 points, 7 boards, 6 dimes and 4 shares and zero minutes in the fourth quarter. MVP.
• The Clippers eventually let go of the rope. They couldn’t keep the ball in their possession, coughed it up again and again and fueled a flurry of Thunder fast breaks with 28 pitiful turnovers.
• Someone please save Bogdan from LA. He should be on a team that is fun to watch.
• With Jaylin Williams out for the first time this season and Isaiah Hartenstein resting, Branden Carlson is still logging some meaningful minutes at backup center. He was pretty good, and I admire his drive – not only to get into the NBA at an old age, but to make it for the defending champions.
• Still, I officially want the Thunder to upgrade the big backup rotation. If Mark Daigneault prefers consistent double big doses in the playoffs (both this season and history suggest he does), I’d put less emphasis on a third or fourth big that’s a little more 3-And-D. The backups actually only provide 3 or D with some reliability.
• Lu Dort had his worst game of the season: 0 points, 0 steals, 0 blocks, 1 rebound, 1 assist, 1 turnover, 1 foul. I’m almost as annoyed that I couldn’t call Dort’s line a pure 0-fer or 1-fer as I am by his 6 empty shots.

One key takeaway: cooking with Clippers ingredients

The Thunder’s rebuild is remarkable in many ways, but it’s also a testament to how good the Clippers are could have done as a concept and development franchise at the OKC level. In the infamous Paul George SGA blockbuster trade of 2019, Sam Presti traded shopping carts at the NBA Supermarket and has cooked a 25-course meal while the ingredients acquired by LA disappoint the taste buds and are close to their expiration date.

OKC got Shai from the Clippers. Then they got JDub. They built a fortress of protection, exchange, conditioning, and leverage that spanned the past and the future. Thomas Sorber, another lottery pick from the Clippers catch, is still on deck. And they’re going to take more, fair and square. As agreed, within the rules of the NBA salary cap and transactions.

I said this after the first matchup:

“There are still a handful of juicy picks, and OKC’s rights to an outright Clippers first-round trade (no protection) in 2027 could be monumental… If the league imposes penalties for cap circumvention, and/or the age of the roster catches up, the Clippers’ short-term prospects could quickly crumble.

Who would have thought that the collapse could come even sooner? It turns out that the 2026 Clippers pick might be just as juicy as the 2027 pick I was drooling over.

LA’s brief era of respectability comes to an embarrassing end as they watch what could have unfolded in Oklahoma City. Can’t happen to a weirder rich guy obsessed with (it is said) cheat to win.