The hero behind the scenes! Presti’s growth route!

For Sam Presti, he no longer needs to prove anything now. This excellent manager has proved his exquisite methods in team trading many times. But under Presti, the team he formed needs another chance to prove it.

Presti is currently the general manager of the Thunder. He won the Best Head Coach in the 2024-25 season, and the previous season, he was also second on this list.

Looking back at his general manager's resume, there are too many excellent trading methods. He was the main trader of the Thunder who chose Durant, Westbrook and Harden; when Durant left the team, he boldly traded Paul George; and after many years of first round games, he firmly dealt with Westbrook and George, in exchange for most of the current Thunder's team building foundation, developed MVP-level Alexander, discovered young forces such as Jewish and Dorte, hired Dagent as the new coach, recruited Caruso and Harten, and formed this young team that won the match point in the finals.

There is no so-called complete plan for the NBA business league. You will never know when the superstar will leave the team, or who you can choose in the draft, and what will you develop in the future.

But these problems do not seem to be a problem for Presti. Since taking over the then Seattle Supersonics in 2007, Presti has almost controlled everything the team has been kept in a dim way, and it even makes people feel that all this has been arranged.

For a small team like the Thunder that is unwilling to pay luxury taxes and is located in a small market, Presti has created the strongest and youngest team in the league at the moment, which is truly incredible.

One transaction after another, one draft after another, Presti always seems to be able to capture lost gems from it. Jaylen Williams, as the team's second scorer, has surpassed all expectations before the draft, and the lost Dolter may now be the top perimeter defensive sharp knife in the NBA. As more and more young players who are not favored perform in the playoffs, it is difficult not to respect Presti, the senior team member, again.

Even just this is not enough to completely describe Presti's trading achievements. He not only dug up gems from the piles, he also knows how to select the most valuable diamonds in the jewelry store. The first to bear the brunt was naturally Alexander. Before coming to the Thunder, he was already a young player who gradually showed his potential. Although no one expected that he could play the MVP skills that appeared at the time, he was still a super newcomer at the core level of the team building. In addition to Alexander, there was Chet Homgren, who many people thought he had the potential to be the No. 1 pick at the time, and Presty was lucky enough to pick him in the second pick. As for Caruso, it was exchanged for Josh Gidey by the Thunder and became the most important puzzle for the Thunder in 2025. The last operation was Harteng. Although it seemed that the signing of Thunder was a little premium at the time, he finally achieved a performance that was not inferior to the contract price.

These operations prove that Presti is not only good at digging out rough jade in the draft, but also knows when to take decisive action in the transaction and signing market, and never misses the opportunity to include positive assets.

Everything under Presti turned the Thunder into a top tyrant with fear, skills and combat power, and even had the opportunity to dominate the NBA for a long time in the future. For the general manager, Presti has basically completed his work, and the Thunder no longer needs to use winning the championship to prove his trading choice.

Now, after leading 3-2, the Thunder's chances of winning the championship begin to prevail. Of course, it is not ruled out that the Thunder eventually defeated the Pacers, but even so, this will not make Presti's trading fail. The deal that exchanged Paul George for Alexander is still worth it. Even if the Pacers finally won the championship in an upset, it was not because Presti made any mistake in building the team.

Looking at the NBA world, right and wrong are often just post-event arguments. Many times, fans always judge whether the team structure is correct after the result, but the Thunder is different. Currently, the Thunder is the side with a better chance to win the championship than the Pacers. This is the highest affirmation of Presti's trading skills. Such success comes from day to day accumulation, and compared to the process, the ending of all this is actually less important.

Then the question arises, why can Presti be more successful than the general managers of other teams?

We can say that he is an operational genius, as if he has super powers and can foresee the future situation. In this sense, Presti does show a lot of insights that are different from ordinary people. He wrote to the Boston Globe at the age of 16, detailing his suggestions on the team-building of his hometown team Celtics, and strongly suggesting that the Celtics should choose a guard from the University of California in 1994:

"This once glorious dynasty reconstruction must start now, and the lineup needs to be completely cleaned up, players leave the team, and free up salary space to prepare for the draft. Although the depth of this year's draft is not high, I see the dawn of a future star. Jason Kidd from the University of California has the skills to become a superstar and the top basketball intuition, and can become a savior of a team in trouble."

From the perspective of a 16-year-old boy, such judgment is indeed surprising enough. But behind every genius, there seems to be a lot of luck; behind every magical operation, there are also considerable bets hidden.

If Alexander finally grew up to be another Russell, rather than an MVP-level star like today, then the Thunder would definitely not be what they are now. Similarly, if they found the wrong head coach at that time, it would probably ruin this group of talented young players..

Let's assume that if the Thunder coach is not Dignot but Thibodeau, will they still have the rotation advantage like this now? Can so many substitute combat power be discovered? I think it is probably unlikely.

From another perspective, the reason why all this works is precisely because everything runs under a complete and coherent concept. Presti has always adhered to the same concept, constantly strengthened, and kept accumulating future assets. He always had chips in his hand and never rushed all at once. Since taking over the team in 2007, Presti has supplied the Thunder again and again. Although they have never been able to complete the ultimate championship mission, they have never fallen into a devastating rebuilding trough.

If the Thunder eventually loses in the finals, there will definitely be some voices from the outside world that they advocate that they should be fully sprinted, such as trading all the assets in their hands to Antetokounmpo and Durant. But in Presti's long-standing action guidance, it is better to slowly accumulate good luck than force radical changes.

Looking back at this journey, the reason why the Thunder was successful is to some extent because everything about the team is implemented in Presti's operating philosophy, flexible and constantly evolving, but the core is always coherent.

The last time they stood in the finals, they mainly relied on three young scorers, Westbrook, Durant and Harden. Now they have once again stepped onto the finals stage around the three-person teams of Alexander, Jewish and Chett. Unlike the last time, in addition to the three cores, they can also play a finals rotation of up to eight or nine people.

If the Thunder fails in the finals again, Presti can still regroup again. He will reconfigure resources to resolve the crisis exposed by the team. For the team, there has never been a so-called complete plan. All it takes is to face every difficult situation to do the best.

For the Thunder, whether it is even the championship or missing the championship, the result is no longer important. Presti has proved everything, no matter what the result is, he will continue to work hard until he finally gets off the throne.