It's a Halloween tradition to tell ghost stories and terrifying tales of old. For the LA Clippers, Golden State Warriors, and Houston Rockets, they may only need to talk about their past trades with the OKC Thunder in an effort to get into the spooky holiday spirit.
In a recent piece penned by Bleacher Report, writer Zach Buckley highlighted one specific deal made by every franchise that he believes should still haunt their nightmares.
After wrapping up on the read, it's hard not to come away feeling like the Thunder have somehow managed to become the NBA's version of the Boogeyman, as they somehow found ways to set back three of their more prominent conference rivals in a span of only six years.
Thunder still haunting nightmares of Clippers, Warriors, and Rockets
Needless to say, the trade that's still haunting the Clippers to this day is the 2019 blockbuster that, in a nutshell, saw Oklahoma City swap out Paul George for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and five first-round picks (one of which later became All-NBA forward, Jalen Williams).
Following SGA's MVP season and 2025 NBA Championship run, coupled with the fact that Los Angeles made it out of the second round just once with George in tow, it's virtually undeniable at this point that this exchange will forever be known as one of the most egregious heists in league history.
However, for the likes of Houston and Golden State, while the stakes may have been a tad lower, the ripple effects ultimately proved disastrous for all parties outside of Oklahoma City.
For the Rockets, Bailey deemed the 2019 trade that shipped Russell Westbrook out to Space City for two first-round picks and two first-round pick swaps as their cross the bare.
The move was described as one that "effectively flatlined" Houston's pursuit of a title run, as the organization pivoted to a reset that very next summer (shipped Westbrook to Washington, fired Daryl Morey and Mike D'Antoni, etc.), and, ultimately, a full-on rebuild by 2020-21 when they traded James Harden to the Brooklyn Nets.
The Thunder, meanwhile, have gone on to snag Nikola Topic, considered to be one of the biggest steals from the 2024 NBA Draft, with one of the picks, while the second of their two first-rounders holds top-four protections for next summer's festivities.
As for the Warriors, their 2020 trade for Kelly Oubre Jr. was penciled in as the most frightening, as the exchange translated into a one-year renting of the wing (15.4 points and 6.0 rebounds on 43.9 percent shooting) while they would wrap up with a mere 39-33, playoff-less finish to the campaign.
The Thunder, however, managed to come away from the exchange rather happy, as it ended up leading to them landing current super sub and core fixture of their championship core, Aaron Wiggins (brought aboard via the 55 overall selection acquired from Golden State in the deal).
So, as evidence suggests, on a date that's typically associated with terrifying entities such as Michael Myers, Freddy Krueger, and Art the Clown, it's the OKC Thunder that's making the Clippers, Rockets, and Warriors plug in the nightlight on this Halloween night.