Sam Presti is the only NBA executive to draft three future MVPs, and he did it in three consecutive drafts. It is a feat of madness, an exercise in risk and reward, chance and foresight. In doing so, Presti at the time ensured short-term success from the soon-to-be-relocated Seattle Sonics to the Oklahoma City Thunder. The new franchise will operate in the league's smallest market and will need mega-star power to stay financially and competitively afloat. Presti achieved results by selecting Kevin Durant with the second pick in 2007, Russell Westbrook with the fourth pick in 2008, and James Harden with the third pick in 2009. Although great, Presti hasn't drafted a player since 2009 who has earned All-Star and/or All-NBA honors. League year-end awards. He deserves credit for getting OKC started as a franchise, but he's been embarrassingly bad at scouting talented players since Harden.
But let's start with the good stuff. Durant won MVP in 2014, Westbrook won MVP in 2017 with the Thunder, and Harden won MVP in 2018 with the Houston Rockets. This is his one of the greatest scouting acumen's in NBA history, making him not only the MVP, but one of the top 75 players in NBA history and a sure-fire first-ballot Hall of Famer. I selected a person. The trio shares 33 All-Star selections, 26 All-NBA team nominations, nine scoring titles and five season assist leadership titles. But while Durant won two championships with the Golden State Warriors, Presti never brought a championship to the franchise during the three years the trio shared in OKC and the 11 years Westbrook spent with the team. I couldn't do that. This is one of the worst performances ever in the history of the sport. But if you look closely, you'll find something else.
how it all fell apart
Now that Presti has been recognized as a top-four pick in a future NBA draft in a historic streak, we can dig deeper into what he did in subsequent drafts. During the Westbrook-Durant era from 2008 to 2016, this team was too good to get a pick in the draft lottery, so some simple Presti sycophants (OKC fans don't know who they are) (Many of them) will point out that Presti needs to make a major change in direction. Build a supporting cast for the controversy. However, the Thunder only made it to the Finals once, in 2012, an embarrassing loss in which they lost three players and two superstars. Even if Harden was in a backup role winning the Sixth Man of the Year award, he was a superstar in waiting and could take over a game on his own. Failing to resign Harden and trading him for Houston's future legacy remains a foil for Presti once again.
From 2011 to 2017, Presti was a first-round pick in every draft except 2016. And instead of choosing a solid replacement player who could thrive around Durant, they took what a Thunder intern called a „big swing.“ This is important. Because he continues this failed approach in Thunder 2.0, making mistakes in the first and second rounds while trying to build around future MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who he caught in the greatest fleece of the 21st century. This is because they continue to commit crimes. Below are Presti's first round selections from 2011 to 2017.
2011: Reggie Jackson, 24th place
2012: Perry Jackson, 28th place
2013: Steven Adams, 12th place
2014: Mitch McGary, 21st place
2015: Cameron Payne, 14th place
2017: Terrence Ferguson, 21st place
With the exception of Adams, there are plenty of failures. I'm not going to waste any time looking at all the players Presti could have selected instead, who could probably be a safer or better fit around Durant and Westbrook. But just looking at a player like Ferguson tells you everything you need to know about how bad Presti's eye test was in the 2010s. And that has been carried over into this reconstruction as well.
Lou Dort paid Presti a big deal after acquiring him as an undrafted talent in 2020 with a five-year, $82.5 million contract extension that included $65 million in guaranteed money. His biggest lottery miss was Josh Guidy, the No. 6 pick in 2021. This season, Giddy was accused of having sex with an underage girl, but further trouble was avoided thanks to his parents' refusal to cooperate. On the court, he is averaging career-lows in points (11.4), assists (4.4) and rebounds (6.1). Presti bounced back in 2021 by selecting star prospect Chet Holmgren, who should reach his potential if he stays healthy. In that draft, Presti also went with the 12th pick and acquired Jaylen Williams and the No. 1 pick, making the draft-day trade with the New York Knicks very strange. On draft day, the Thunder traded three future protected first-round picks to the Knicks for the No. 11 pick and acquired Ousmane Dieng, a long-term project out of the Thunder's rotation. The head-scratching move was unnecessary in hindsight, especially considering those picks were originally taken by the Thunder at the time and then traded for Alperen Shengnin in 2021. That mistake was Presti's worst draft day move and one he will come to regret.
Of the times Presti has picked in the lottery (2007, 2008, 2009, 2013, 2015, 2021, 2022 (twice), 2023), he has picked seven times (Durant, Westbrook, Harden, Adams, Holmgren, Williams, Wallace) hit the mark. ), missed three games (Cameron Payne, Guidi, Dieng). This is a pretty solid percentage over the past 15 years. But more than that, Presti was terrible when it came to low-certainty choices. Of the 18 times he's had (and held) picks from No. 15 to No. 60, the only hits he's had over his career are No. 24 Serge Ibaka in 2008 and No. 24 Reggie in 2011. -Jackson's only two. Washouts like Mitch McGary, Ferguson and Theo Maledon both left the NBA within four seasons.
And what kind of draft-day trades has Presti made since taking over? He lost everything. Please look:
2010 (lost): The Clippers acquired the No. 18 pick (Eric Bledsoe) in exchange for a future protected first-round draft pick. The Thunder then included that pick in a trade with Boston, acquiring center Kendrick Perkins.
2018 (lost): The Memphis Grizzlies acquired the 21st pick (Brandon Clark), 23rd pick (Darrius Bazley) and a future second-round draft pick from the Thunder, as well as the rights to the 2019 Draft. Bazley is no longer in the NBA.
2020 (lost): The Minnesota Timberwolves acquired Ricky Rubio with the 25th pick (Immanuel Quickley) and the 28th pick (Jaden McDaniels) in exchange for the 17th pick (Alexei Pokuszewskiy). Poku was fired earlier this month.
2021 (lost): The Houston Rockets acquired the No. 16 pick (Alperen Shengyun) from the Wizards and Pistons for two future highly protected first-round picks. Those picks would be packaged to select Dieng in 2023. Dieng is out of the Thunder's rotation.
2022 (TBD): Dallas traded the 10th pick (Kason Wallace) and the 12th pick (Derek Lively). Wallace is an elite defender and three-point shooter, while Lively is exactly the rebounding big needed to back up Holmgren. The Thunder are currently at the bottom of the league in rebounding.
The Thunder waived Poku earlier this month. Quickley and McDaniels are starters for their respective teams. Even worse was when Presti drafted current Most Valuable Player candidate Shengyun in 2021. The idea was to trade him on draft night for a future protected pick to be used in a trade with the Knicks for Dieng. Shengun is averaging 21.1 PPG, 9.3 RPG, and 5 APG this season. The Shang-Gyun waste is not only Presti's worst draft decision ever, but also one of the worst draft trades of the 21st century.
This isn't to say that Mr. Presti hasn't always been one of the best executives in the small market. And his acumen for building teams from the ground up is hard to match. The Gilgeous-Alexander trade remains the biggest fleece of the modern era. But his talent developing through the draft is largely on the back of being selected as a future MVP in back-to-back seasons in the late 2000s. Since then, he's become one of the NBA's worst at finding players with decent careers, especially late in the first and second rounds. But as the Presti simp likes to say, „Scary money doesn't make money.“ Well, apparently, they won't even be able to compete in the championship.