With a fresh 2021 here, many of us would not like to look back into 2020; however, for us basketball fans there were some interesting things that happened in the 2019 – 2020 season. One of the biggest storylines in basketball last season was the Oklahoma City Thunder making the playoffs. In most years, the Thunder making the playoffs wouldn’t be a surprise but before the 2019 – 2020 season, the Thunder organization made major changes that had everyone in the league believing that the Thunder were looking to do a hard reset.
In the summer of 2019, Chris Paul was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder for Russell Westbrook, first-round picks in 2024 and 2026 with picks swaps in 2021 and 2025. NBA fans were shocked by the return. This trade shocked the NBA. Everyone was trying to understand how were James Harden and Westbrook going to play together and also what was next for Chris Paul considering there is no way he would want to sit on a Thunder team who is obviously blowing it up. While at this time Paul George was still on the roster, everyone knew what the trading of Russell Westbrook meant. It was almost certain that the Thunder were not going to keep Chris Paul once they traded Paul George.
The Thunder however were on a mission. They did not feel any pressure of “the need” to trade Chris Paul. Once the offseason came to an end, once again the NBA world knew that it would only be a couple of games before the Thunder ship off Chris Paul to a contender, and yet weeks and months passed and there was still no Chris Paul trade in sight. With the Thunder having a winning record, it was thought that the Thunder would still trade Paul due to the fact that he does not fit the Thunder’s new timeline. With the Thunder’s new star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, 21 at the time, Paul would be no benefit to this team. However, this is where many people were wrong. This would just so happen to be one of the most important seasons in the Thunder’s history.
This season ended up being the foundation of a more than promising future. Because of the 2019 – 2020 season, the Thunder have set themselves up to be a team with one of the brightest futures in the league. For an entire season, Chris Paul diligently worked and trained with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and passed on his knowledge of the game. His veteran leadership not only was passed to Shai but to others in the locker room as well. This lead to a Thunder team with Dennis Schroder, Chris Paul, and Shai Gilgeous Alexander as its best players to make the playoffs and give the Houston Rockets a run for their money in the first round of the playoffs by taking it to seven games. A season with Chris Paul averaging 17.6 pts, 6.7 asts and 5 rebs ended up turning into 2021 first-round pick, 2 2021 second-round picks, 2023 2nd round pick, 2025 1st round pick, 2026 2nd round pick, 2027 2nd round pick, Aleksej Pkusevski, Theo Maledon, Kenrich Williams, Justin Jackson, Al Hoford, and George Hill. Let’s be honest, Chris Paul is not exactly the only reason they received these assets but him being on the team and help lead this team to the playoffs definitely increased the value of his former teammates which allowed the Thunder to make major offseason moves. Right now even at 2-4, the Thunder are playing excellent basketball with Shai being an obvious leader that the team rallies around and thus creating a culture that any player, coach, and executive would want to be a part of. Chris Paul may have helped produce not only a foundation but a new blueprint for how teams approach their rebuilds.
