Richard Jefferson Says That The SGA Trade Was Worse Than The Luka Doncic Deal

NBA history is filled with blockbuster trades that led to tremendous success for some teams and a storm of misfortune for others. For hoops analyst Richard Jefferson, there’s one trade that outweighs the impact of the Luka Doncic deal that went down last season.

In an episode of the “Road Trippin’ Show” podcast, Jefferson went all the way back to 2019 to identify a trade that had even bigger implications.

“At this point in time, you would most likely look at the Clippers trade [as] worse than the Dallas trade for Luka,” Jefferson said. “Dallas ended up getting Cooper Flagg as a result of that trade, whereas OKC ends up getting J-Dub and Shai.”

In Jefferson’s view, the Mavericks’ decision to trade a generational superstar like Doncic contributed to their downward spiral in the latter half of the 2024–25 season. Injuries to Anthony Davis and Kyrie Irving did not help the Mavs’ cause, and the team eventually found itself in the draft lottery. By some miracle of fate, Dallas won the lottery, putting them in a prime position to acquire another transcendental star in Flagg.

On the other hand, there appears to be little to no saving grace when it comes to the Los Angeles Clippers’ transaction with the Oklahoma City Thunder six years ago. In this deal, the Clippers let go of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari, and a handful of first-round picks to get their hands on then-Thunder star Paul George.

While the Clippers were able to open a championship window by pairing George with Kawhi Leonard, the Thunder ended up reaping more benefits in the long term. Gilgeous-Alexander went on to blossom into an MVP-caliber player, while one of the first-round picks dealt by the Clippers turned out to be Jalen Williams, who ascended to All-Star status as OKC’s number two scoring option.

Jefferson, then, made a solid point in his comparison of the two headline-grabbing trades. While the Mavericks were able to recoup some of the value that they gave up in dealing Doncic away, the Clippers failed to reach championship heights after the George acquisition and have since declined to cellar-dweller status.