The Paul George Thunder Clippers trade finally closed Tuesday night when the Oklahoma City Thunder used the No. 12 pick in the 2026 NBA draft on Michigan center Aday Mara. Nearly seven years after the deal was agreed to on July 6, 2019, the return is now settled, with one protected first-round pick from the San Antonio Spurs still in play.
Oklahoma City Thunder and Aday Mara
Mara gives Oklahoma City the last piece of a haul that already included Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams. The Thunder turned the trade into a full roster reset, then watched those two become the best players on the team that won the 2025 NBA Finals.
The draft choice also fits the pattern of how the return paid out over time. The No. 12 pick in the 2022 draft became Williams, and Gilgeous-Alexander went on to win back-to-back MVP awards in 2024-25 and 2025-26.
Los Angeles Clippers and Paul George
The other side of the deal brought the Los Angeles Clippers three All-Star seasons from George across his five-year tenure. They went 233-157 with him on the roster, and the team’s best playoff run with him ended in the 2020-21 Western Conference Finals, where it lost to the Phoenix Suns in six games after Kawhi Leonard missed the final eight games with a partially torn ACL.
George left the Clippers in the summer of 2024 to sign with the Philadelphia 76ers, but the trade package that sent him away kept paying out for Oklahoma City. Danilo Gallinari, another part of the return, played one season in Oklahoma City and averaged 18.7 points and 5.2 rebounds in 62 games in 2019-20.
What remains is the final accounting on that last pick from the San Antonio Spurs. The Thunder can now treat the 2026 draft selection as the capstone to a deal that produced star production, draft value, and one remaining asset still moving toward resolution.
