Second Rotation MVP? That magical deal of Presti!

The story began in the summer of 2007, when Steve Cole entered the position of general manager of the Suns. In his first month of taking office, the team boss gave him a command: to cut salary and avoid luxury taxes.

In an interview later, Cole gave his choice:

"We were just over $8 million in luxury tax, and trading forward Kurt Thomas alone could make us lower than the luxury tax. At that time, only one team in the entire league could afford his salary."

Kurt Thomas was 34 years old at the time, scored a career low of 4.6 points the previous season, signed with the Knicks for three years 22 million, and the salary in the last year of the contract was as high as 8.1 million. The Suns hope to free up the salary space by adding a draft pick trading premium contract. The only team mentioned by Cole in the interview is the Supersonics. They had just bid farewell to the Seattle Double Gun era and won the future trump card through the second draw. Under no record and salary pressure, Presti, the youngest general manager at the age of 30, was actively accumulating future assets at the time.

After two weeks of negotiations, Cole and Presti started the deal. When the Suns, who were in the championship stage, gave up two unprotected first rounds and only got one second round back, allowing the Supersonics to take over this hot potato.

The two first rounds that the Suns gave up were fulfilled as the 24th pick in 2008 and the 26th pick in 2010. The latter was sent to the New Orleans Hornets in the Cole Aldridge transaction case, and the former was self-use from the Supersonics, who was about to move the capital, and selected Ibaka, who was still playing in Spain at the time, and eventually grew into the team's penalty area pillar.

Judging from the results at that time, Ibaka still realized the value of the transaction at a relatively high price. But the subsequent butterfly effect continues.

Thunder won: Oladipo, Ilyasova, 2016 first round 11th pick

Magic won: Ibaka

This is a deal that seemed very profitable back then, but now it seems to be profitable.

Fast forward to the 2016 offseason nine years later. This year is not only the team, but also the turning point of the career of many people in the Thunder. After playing a closed and forced game, Ibaka gradually began to move downward, while the Thunder were only one step away from defeating the Warriors 73. The key to the moment is to reintegrate the team's lineup.

After Howard left the team, after several years, the Magic decided to bet on potential players such as Gordon and Hezonia. In the middle of the season, Harris, who was not in line with the coach, will send the second-tier picks with little development potential, Oladipo, Iliasuva, the anti-aircraft turret, and add a lotto signing deal to Ibaka, the blocking king.

But the Magic did not completely choose Ibaka. A few months later, Ibaka was sent to the Raptors in exchange for Terence Rose and the first round pick. Then the Thunder won the son of the famous player Sabonis Jr. in the first round. His first year of cooperation with Oladipo in the Thunder was somewhat worse than expected, but he was still a regular starter in the playoffs. The next year, the Thunder packed the two of them and received the first male lead in our story.

As for Oladipo becoming the team's ace in the Pacers, Satsu was selected as the All-Star and leading the Kings into the playoffs, it's another story.

Thunders won: Paul George

Pacers won: Sabonis Jr., Oladipo

After Durant joined the Warriors without warning, the Thunder was originally expected to be blocked from the playoffs, but Westbrook played an epic season in 2016-17. His MVP performance averaged triple-double + 42 triple-doubles per game in a single season led the Thunder to sixth in the Western Conference, which also made the Thunder management determined to seize Westbrook's peak period and find more help for him.

From the perspective of the East, the team's ace Paul George had conflicts with the management for many years, and announced in the summer of 2017 that he would not stay. The team's general manager Kevin Pritchard made up his mind to trade the star who had decided to leave. Finally, the Thunder used two potential stocks, Oladipo and Sa Sak, to exchange for Paul George's one-year use rights.

Although both teams were eventually eliminated in the first round of the season, their appearance was very different. Oladipo came out of the cocoon when the Pacers played their first All-Star in their career while being selected as the best team and the fastest-progress player. He, who took over the team's boss, lost regretfully after seven bloody games with James in the playoffs. Sa, Xiaohua continued to shine after Audi fell, and was selected as the All-Star for two consecutive years, helping the Pacers who lost their leader remain competitive. In the following years, the trading chips that became Halliburton were sent to the king and became the king's offensive center.

On the other hand, after getting George, the Thunder side welcomed the third giant Anthony through a trade, with a strong momentum to point at the championship. However, the Big Three failed to get in and went to fourth place in the division, but was defeated by rookie Mitchell in the first round. Paul George was invisible in the sixth game. The Thunder were defeated by the Jazz in six games, and then Anthony left the Thunder sadly next season.

Clippers won: Paul George

Thunder won: Alexander, Garlinari, four unprotected first round, 2025 Heat first round, 2023/25 Clippers unprotected first round swap

After the Big Three lost in the first year, George decided to stay in the Thunder and continue to work hard for a year, contributing his career to represent the season the following year, and playing in the double first team and the top three of MVP with an average of 28 points, 8.2 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 2.2 steals. He is the strongest small forward of the season. But in the first round, facing the Trail Blazers who were short of soldiers, the Thunder, who deserved the advantage, was kicked out in five games.

At this time, the Thunder faced the highest tax pressure in the league and ended in the first round for three consecutive years. Paul George sought a deal in the offseason and started the journey of winning the championship again with the Clippers. Unwilling to fall into a dead end, Presti directly dismantled the championship lineup he created and traded Westbrook to the Rockets, opening a new page in team history.

For the Clippers at that time, when there was no All-Star in the team the previous season, they lost six games in the playoffs and the Five-Star Warriors that year, successfully won the attention of Leonard, who had just won the championship. Then the Clippers began to actively operate Paul George's joining. What I got then was that Presti had to ask for Alexander's reply. Under the pressure of the trading deadline, West had to let Alexander go.

Now it seems that Alexander has indeed lived up to the price that West had to trade upward even when he was willing to pay two first rounds. Since the first year of coming to the Thunder, Paul has shown his star potential. After leaving, he took over the position of the team's boss, made progress every year, and continued to reap honors. He is the best team, All-Star starter, and MVP.

And one of the first rounds brought by the Paul George trade was, because the Clippers were eliminated in the playoffs, the Thunder successfully won the 12th pick, and eventually they chose older rookie Jaylen Williams. He also showed his cornerstone potential in his rookie year, starting from a substitute, becoming the team's second offensive leader in the second year, and went to the next level this season to be selected as the All-Star and Best Team.

Looking back at the deal in 2007, the second round pick became two first round picks, and the first round pick became Ibaka. Ibaka traded to Oladipo and Sabonis Jr., and the two became bargaining chips for Paul George. In the end, Paul George was replaced by Alexander, Jewway and a large number of draft picks.

The butterfly effect that affects the whole body also shows the value of the second round of pick in 2007, which should be the final value of the second round of pick in recent years, second only to the 41st pick in 2014.