Oklahoma City Thunder general manager Sam Presti was in a story-sharing mood on Monday during his exit interview. The most significant story he shared revolved around Russell Westbrook and the passing of the torch to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as the face of the franchise.
Fresh off the phone with the Houston Rockets, Presti was emotionally vulnerable as he just traded the face of the franchise after a long 12-year tenure. The Thunder were suddenly in a rebuild three days after trading Paul George to the LA Clippers for a historic amount of draft picks in the middle of the night. The franchise quickly pivoted to moving Westbrook as the team entered a new phase. It was a bitter pill to swallow as Westbrook was — and still is — essentially a sports deity in Oklahoma.
But with an end, there’s always a new beginning, and the then-21-year-old Gilgeous-Alexander was in the facility the night the trade occurred and gave Presti hope of a new future. Presti told himself that he would only share this story if he ever grew confident enough that Gilgeous-Alexander is going to be that guy. Well, three years later and it looks like Presti firmly believes that will happen — if it hasn’t already. Here’s the full story from Presti himself:
“I think he’s got a quiet confidence to him. He’s extremely encouraging. He’s learning every single day how to help his teammates. That’s like a beautiful thing for anyone that likes basketball. He’s thinking about that.
Now, he also is on the very precipice of the beginning of like his own career, so it’s a lot to ask of somebody that’s like, hey, I know you are still trying to establish yourself in the league, but understand that the more you give, the more you get back. I think his sophistication of how he’s approached the game is much different, much different.
I’m going to give you two stories for that. This one no one knows. This is a new one. The night that we traded Russell, I was writing that op-ed and I was getting off the phone with Daryl and then writing a couple lines and then getting back on the phone with Daryl, then talking to Thad, Russell’s agent, then talking to Russell.
We had basically wrapped up the trade. It was pretty late, and I was walking down one of the hallways in the building and I heard a ball bouncing. I walked into someone’s office that had a window. I think there may have been three people in the building, and I looked out the window, and Shai was working out. He had just got here. I said hi to him or something. It was pretty quick. He was just — he was in there working out with I think it was one of his agents. I can’t remember exactly. It was kind of a blur because I was pretty emotional about the whole Russell thing and then we have these new guys coming in and it was — you know, it was a very — you just didn’t know which way was one.
He didn’t even have Thunder gear on. That I remember because I was like, why doesn’t this guy have Thunder gear? What is this? What kind of shop are we running here?
It was just ironic to me, and I thought, if this guy ever becomes a player, I’ve got to remember this story. I’m confident enough now to tell you the story, because I think this guy is going to be a player.”
Presti is as good of a storyteller as he is a GM.
“The night that we traded Russell.. it was pretty late.. I was walking down one of the hallways.. & heard a ball bouncing.. & Shai was working out, he just got here.. I said hi.. or something.. kind of a blur b/c I was pretty emotional about the whole Russell thing”
what a story pic.twitter.com/UXZwiOxC3G
— Thunder Film Room (@ThunderFilmRoom) April 19, 2022
"anyone can wear the mask.."
2018-19 OKC post credit scene 🏀📼 pic.twitter.com/OR71vLv943
— vic 🕸🖤🎱 (@sickvicsick) April 19, 2022
