For once, Steph Curry didn’t ruin basketball with his three point shooting, though it was a part of this, it wasn’t the main reason why. Wardell Stephen Curry just gave the Oklahoma City Thunder a lottery pick. The NBA is fried. There is no coming back when a superteam gets a possible top 5 pick in one of the most stacked draft classes ever. So here’s how it happened.

It was July 10th, 2019, the Clippers were desperately trying to sign Kawhi Leonard, he had just won a title in Toronto after being traded from the Spurs and he was at the peak of his career. They did something insane, they traded for Paul George. They traded Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, 4 unprotected firsts, one protected first, and two swaps for Paul George. One of those firsts ended up being Jalen Williams, making an elite duo between him and Shai, and the final first was the 2026 unprotected Clippers first. The Clippers were able to convince Kawhi to sign after getting Paul George.

There was a problem though, neither Paul George or Kawhi Leonard could stay on the court. Both of them dealt with injuries and couldn’t keep their team afloat. The furthest they ever went was the Western Conference Finals before losing. If they hadn’t had so many injuries then maybe their tenure would play out differently but the situation came to a close once Paul George entered free agency and signed a massive 4 year deal with the 76ers, it already seems regrettable.

Now, looking back at the Thunder, they were able to build around Shai and Jalen Williams, drafting people like Chet Holmgren and Lu Dort and signing people like Isaiah Hartenstein to build an elite rotation, but one of the most underrated moves was Alex Caruso. Though they traded Josh Giddey, an up and coming guard who has bloomed in Chicago, they still got an elite defender in Alex Caruso and got a much needed veteran presence. They had a roster built to contend. There is no stopping them now.

The Thunder ended up winning 68 games last year behind Shai’s MVP season. They would fly through the Western Conference before meeting the Pacers in the finals where they would win in 7 games. Shai won Finals MVP and everything was looking good. They would then go into next year breaking records with their hot start. They were dominant all year and were the front runner and still are for the title. Then they made one of the best moves at the trade deadline that would boost them even further. They traded for Jared McCain.

Getting McCain at first seemed high risk, they have a ton of guards and might not have space, he’s had a bad injury history, and they sent out a lot of picks for him. But he proved everyone wrong and has been one of the best rotational pieces on a team poised for another finals run. The Thunder finished the year with 64 wins and the first seed in the west, soon they will start the playoffs, facing either the Suns or Warriors, the team that just ruined basketball, depending on who wins.

Then there was the pick. The 2026 unprotected Clippers first round pick has a 7% chance of being in the top 4 which seems unrealistic but remember who won the lottery last year. The Thunder could get someone like Boozer or Peterson if they’re lucky. Likely situation will be that they get a pick in the 9-14 range where they can get someone like Nate Ament for the ceiling pick, or go for someone like Yaxel for a proven young big, or get someone like Braylon Mullins who has proven he can be clutch, my pick if he’s available would be Ament, he has the ceiling to be an all star if he can get consistent.

The Thunder have the best situation in the league now, having a lottery pick in a generational draft class and it’s all Steph Curry’s fault. With that pick the Thunder can now draft an elite prospect from an elite draft class and even once Shai is old they will still have whoever they drafted and whoever they get in the future. The only thing stopping them is whether or not their owner is willing to spend a little bit of money.