OKLAHOMA CITY — Thunder executive vice president and general manager Sam Presti is a student of the game.
Not just of the people who played in the NBA, but the people behind the scenes, the GMs and front-office executives who helped define the position and made it what it is today – an indispensable role necessary to competing for championships.
When Presti was named NBA Executive of the Year last month, he released a statement and within, mentioned several former executives: Wayne Embry, Kevin O’Connor, Jack McCloskey, Rod Thorn, Sam Schuler, Mark Warkentien, John Gabriel, Bob Whitsitt, Carroll Dawson, Scott Layden and Geoff Petrie among others.
Some of those names are familiar. Some are forgotten. But not to Presti, who made sure the trailblazers are appreciated.
Presti, 47, started in this business when he was 22 – a video intern for the San Antonio Spurs in 2000. Quickly, Presti, who graduated from and played basketball at Emerson College in Boston, moved into the scouting and player personnel department.
He began traveling and got to know those executives he named. Sitting with them at airports. Visiting European cities with them in search of a hidden gem. They might arrive at a gym in Ljubljana only to find out the player they wanted to scout was no good. Maybe they traded NBA apparel for a VCR cassette recording of a potential prospect. Or maybe Presti saw something in a young Tony Parker and encouraged the Spurs to draft him.
Spending time with Embry, O’Connor, McCloskey, Gabriel, Dawson and others, Presti learned about team building. McCloskey’s work with the Detroit Pistons’ Bad Boys in the 1980s left an impression. McCloskey shipped fan favorite Adrian Dantley to the Dallas Mavericks for Mark Aguirre. The smaller trades were important, too, and acquiring Rick Mahorn helped shape Detroit’s 1989 championship.
Consider a couple of Presti’s moves: Trading Paul George to the Los Angeles Clippers for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and trading Josh Giddey to Chicago for Alex Caruso.
Embry drafted Brad Daugherty, Ron Harper and acquired Mark Price in a draft-day trade, turning the Cleveland Cavaliers into one of the top teams in the East.
Think about some other moves Presti has made: drafted Aaron Wiggins No. 55 in 2021; drafted Chet Holmgren No. 2 overall, Jalen Williams No. 12 and Jaylin Williams No. 34 in 2022; selected Cason Wallace No. 10 in 2023; drafted Ajay Mitchell No. 38 in 2024; signed Isaiah Joe and Isaiah Hartenstein in free agency.
Presti has found value through the three-pronged approach to team-building: trades, draft picks and free-agent signings.
How Sam Presti built the Thunder for long-term success
A GM’s job is to win now and plan for the future. It’s not easy. Since taking the Thunder job in 2007, Presti has turned the franchise into one of the best in the NBA. From 2009-10 through 2019-20, the Thunder made the playoffs 10 times in 11 seasons, reaching the NBA Finals in 2012 with Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden and the Western Conference finals in 2011, 2012, 2014 and 2016. They averaged 51 wins in that span.
After 2019-20, Presti promoted Mark Daigneault from assistant to head coach and embarked on a rebuild that has led to this Finals appearance.
Presti wants another decade of 50-win seasons and championship-caliber teams. The Thunder won 57 games last season, 68 this season and are set up contractually to keep Gilgeous-Alexander, Holmgren and Jalen Williams.
“I didn’t know much about professional basketball before I came here, and so my entire philosophy in professional basketball was underneath the umbrella of the Thunder organization,” said Daigneault, who was an assistant for Billy Donovan at Florida before joining the franchise in 2014. “Our philosophical alignment is so tight because of that, because this is the only place I’ve ever worked and this is the only way I’ve ever done it, and a lot of it is stuff I’ve learned from Sam and learned from being in this organization in terms of understanding that these organizations are robust.
“It’s not just you coaching your team. You’re part of a large ecosystem of developing players and developing a team, and you’re executing a large strategy for an organization. Those are things that have to exist in order to be a sustainably successful team in the NBA.”
Pacers coach Rick Carlisle first met Presti 25 years ago, and Carlisle told reporters that after the Pacers fired him in 2000, he spent time around the Spurs.
“He is from the Boston area. So, he had grown up a Celtics fan,” Carlisle said. “He actually remembered when I played, which was miraculous to me. Seemed like he was probably way too young for that. We had a couple of dinners together. He asked me, ‘What can I do? I got to somehow get a job out of this.’
“I said, ‘Just become a guy they can’t live without.’ ”
Presti has done that – first with the Spurs and now during nearly two decades with the Thunder. He has an expert eye for talent, a special knack for roster construction and a clear understanding of the collective bargaining agreement/salary cap machinations. He has the vision to see where the league is headed.
“Sam is a great demonstration of resourcefulness and wherewithal and stuff like that,” Carlisle said. “He’s forged himself a great career. He and (Indiana’s) Kevin Pritchard are two of the best franchise builders around.”
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on Sam Presti: ‘Seemed like a guy I can trust’
Presti also has built relationships with players. It’s not a one-way transaction. When the Thunder traded for George, Presti ‒ who has forged relationships with city leaders through philanthropy and commitment to Oklahoma City ‒ kept an open dialogue and when the time came, found a deal that worked for both sides. And he may have found an even better one for the Thunder and Gilgeous-Alexander, this season’s NBA MVP.
“He’s honest and upfront with me from day one,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “That helped our relationship right away. You don’t get that very often, especially that early. Seemed like a guy I can trust. He’s been that. I just try to be the same back to him. Nothing more than just two guys with good character trusting each other and have one common goal in mind.”
You won’t hear much from Presti during the Finals. TV cameras may catch him watching a home game from a tunnel near the Thunder’s bench.
He does two interviews a year, at the start of the season and after it’s over, preferring the focus go to players and coaches. And other GMs who came before him and did the job with fewer resources financially, technologically and personnel-wise.
Presti has learned from the past while creating his vision for what a team that wants to capitalize on its NBA Finals window should look like today – and in the future.
Follow NBA columnist Jeff Zillgitt on social media @JeffZillgitt