Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
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How did Shai Gilgeous-Alexander end up on the Thunder?
At the age of just 26, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is already establishing himself as a player for the ages. Inhiso seventh NBA season, Gilgeous-Alexander — or SGA is he is generally known —led the NBA in points per game with 32.7 as well as total points with 2,484. He won the coveted NBA MVP award and now, on Thursday, will lead the Oklahoma City Thunder into the NBA Finals.
The story of how SGA ended up on the Thunder is almost as remarkable as his own story, because it was the result of what is indisputably one of the worst trades in NBA history — or one of the best, from the Oklahoma City perspective. In any case, the trade was certainly one of the most one-sided ever.
And another star player and NBA champion, Kahwi Leonard, could be blamed for the whole thing.
Gilgeous-Alexander Started in Canada
An NBA championship would seal Gilgeous-Alexander’s place in the NBA pantheon, as it would be the first in Oklahoma City history. The team’s previous incarnation, the Seattle Supersonics, won an NBA title in 1979, but the Thunder organization and the team’s fans are adamant about separating the two versions of the franchise.
The OKC organization does not claim the Seattle title as its own, and refuses to display the Supersonics’ championship trophy or banner.
In 2024-2025, led by Gilgeous-Alexander, the Thunder won 68 games, the NBA’s best record, and is now just four more wins over the Eastern Conference champion Indiana Pacers away from bringing the title to Oklahoma City.
But Gilgeous-Alexander’s career began in his native Canada where his mother, Canadian Olympic track star Charmain Gilgeous, pushed him to maximize his natural basketball talents.
At age 15, he relocated to the United States, to play for Hamilton Heights Christian Academy in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Soon, college recruiters came calling — including then-Kentucky coach John Calipari. After playing one season at Kentucky, Gilgeous-Alexander entered the NBA draft and was picked 11th overall in 2018 by the Charlotte Hornets.
Traded to Clippers For Miles Bridges
Actually, it could be said that SGA came to the Thunder as the result of not just one but two of the most lopsided trades of all time, because on draft night, the Hornets sent Gilgeous-Alexander to the Los Angeles Clippers for Miles Bridges and two future second-round picks.
After his rookie season in Los Angeles, where he played all 82 games — and six more in the Clippers six-game, first round playoff loss to the Golden State Warriors — averaging 10.8 points and placing sixth in Rookie of the Year voting (Luka Dončić of the Dallas Mavericks won it), the Clippers made a move that would decide their future — and Oklahoma City’s.
In July, 2019, Los Angeles signed free agent Kawhi Leonard, who was fresh off leading the Toronto Raptors to their first and only NBA championship. A genuine superstar of the kind that the Clippers had not previously seen, Leonard wanted a chance to win another ring. And that meant he was looking for a sidekick. Leonard wanted the Clippers to bring in another All-Star player.
So on the same day they signed Leonard — July 10, 2019 — the Clippers went after two-time All-Star Paul George, just two years after he had signed as a free agent with Oklahoma City.
SGA: Lopsided Trade ‘Worked Out in My Favor’
To get George, the Clippers sent OKC a massive package of players and draft picks, headlined by Gilgeous-Alexander. The Clippers also sent Italian big man Danilo Galinari and a whopping five first-round draft picks, as well as four first-round pick swaps, to the Thunder.
With the duo of Leonard and George, the Clippers in six seasons got as far as the Western Conference finals once, and the semifinals once. They were eliminated in the first round three times and missed the playoffs altogether in the 2021-2022 season.
In 2024, George left the Clippers to sign with the Philadelphia 76ers.
As for Gilgeous-Alexander, when asked about the trade five years after the fact, he replied, “I’d say it worked out in my favor.”