Suns-Clippers playoff storylines: What's the OKC connection all about?

The Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Clippers have several subplots entering their first-round series on Sunday.

Here's a look at some of the top storylines ahead of Game 1 at Footprint Center:

Suns, Clippers All-Stars' OKC Thunder connection

One of the biggest storylines of this series is Kevin Durant facing his former Oklahoma City Thunder teammate and fellow NBA 75 all-time great Russell Westbrook for the first time in the playoffs.

The pair made it to the NBA finals in 2012 with the Thunder, losing to the Miami Heat, and made it to the Western Conference Finals three other times together before Durant left for the Warriors after the 2015-16 season.

There are two additional Suns' and Clippers' All-Stars, Chris Paul and Paul George, who were former Thunder players. They were the centerpieces in the blockbuster trades in 2019 and 2020, respectively, that helped OKC amass an astonishing 17 first-round draft picks from 2020 through 2026.

Former Suns owner and Hall of Famer Jerry Colangelo told The Republic in February when Phoenix landed Kevin Durant in a deal from Brooklyn, “The one thing about basketball is you don’t need a roster full of stars." He added, "You need some stars and you need complementary players, depth."

That's what OKC gave to the Clippers and Suns at the top with George and Paul.

George who still is out with an injury, joined forces with two-time NBA Finals MVP and then-free agent Kawhi Leonard in July 2019 in L.A.

Paul formed the Suns' starting backcourt with Devin Booker after he was acquired in 2020.

OKC acquired five future first-round draft selections in rebuilding after George left. When George was sent to L.A., Westbrook requested a trade and was sent to the Houston Rockets that same month to briefly rejoin his former OKC teammate James Harden.

In the Westbrook deal, the Thunder received Chris Paul, and the Rockets' 2024 and 2026 first-rounders and the right to swap first-rounders in 2021 and 2025.

Westbrook was traded to Washington in 2020, the L.A. Lakers the following year, and then ended up with the Clippers earlier this year. Westbrook averaged 15.8 points on 48.9% shooting, a team-best 7.6 assists and 4.9 rebounds in his 21 games with the Clippers.

As for Chris Paul, the Suns got him and Abdel Nader in exchange for Kelly Oubre, Ricky Rubio, Ty Jerome, Jalen Lecque and a 2022 first-rounder to OKC.

George is out for the start of the Suns-Clippers series after he sprained his knee on Mar. 24 in L.A.'s loss to OKC, coincidentally, and was listed to be re-evaluated in two to three weeks.

Westbrook has a 6-3 record against Paul in the postseason from their earlier career Thunder-Clippers matchups, per StatMuse.

More: Suns-Clippers series schedule announced starting with Game 1 in Phoenix

Ex-Suns, Clippers players facing their former teams

Several Suns and Clippers players have another connection in their upcoming series.

In Paul's 18-year career, he played six of them with the Clippers.

From 2011 to 2017, he was the star with Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan during their "Lob City" era that was filled with crazy alley-oop highlights. They made the playoffs in their years together, but never advanced past the conference semifinals, then Paul was traded to Houston in June 2017.

The Suns' Landry Shamet has never missed a postseason in his five-year career, and two of them were with the Clippers. Shamet, who was drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers, was traded by them to the Clippers in February 2019 and averaged about 10 points per game for L.A. off the bench.

"It will be fun. Definitely was my kind of intro to the league, got traded there my rookie year. It was a lot of fun, enjoyed my time in a Clippers uniform," Shamet said at Suns' Thursday practice.

"But obviously, a team that trades you ... I hang on to some of that stuff. It's nothing personal but you just want to, 'You got rid of me, I want to meet you.' It's just kind of a competitive thing."

The last player linked between both teams is Clippers forward Marcus Morris Sr. After he was drafted by Houston in 2011 and played two seasons there, he was traded to Phoenix in February 2013 and was there for the next two seasons before he was dealt to Detroit in July 2015. Morris had additional stints with Boston and New York before he was traded to L.A. in February 2020.

More: Suns can become 1st team lower than 3rd seed to win NBA title since 1995 Houston Rockets

Phoenix's rivalry with L.A.

Longtime Suns fans are used to chanting ''Beat L.A.,' but usually directed at the Lakers. But that has changed recently as the Clippers have become a heated rival.

The Suns have an 8-5 playoff record against the Clippers.

The last time the Suns faced the Clippers in the playoffs was when Phoenix beat them 4-2 in the 2021 Western Conference finals. That series had the amazing "Valley-Oop" play in which Jae Crowder passed the ball from out of bounds at a narrow-angle behind the Suns' basket to Deandre Ayton for the game-winning dunk with 0.9 seconds left to go up 2-0.

But this goes deeper than basketball.

The Suns' strongest rivalry is against the Lakers, dating back to the Magic Johnson and Walter Davis era in the 1980s, to Kobe Bryant vs. Nash-led Suns in the late 2000s, and the 2021 playoffs first round.

But nothing amps up a Suns crowd more than repeatedly screaming "Beat L.A.," even if it's about the Clippers.

More: Suns going over 'details' in preparing for Los Angeles Clippers

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Suns-Clippers playoff storylines: What's the OKC connection all about?