Sam Presti is the only NBA executive to ever draft three future MVPs, doing so in three consecutive drafts. It’s an insane stroke of luck and an exercise in risk/reward, chance and foresight. In doing so, Presti guaranteed the short-term success of the Seattle Sonics, who were soon relocated to the Oklahoma City Thunder. The new franchise would operate in the league’s smallest market and would need outsized star power to remain financially and competitive. Presti delivered by selecting Kevin Durant second in 2007, Russell Westbrook fourth in 2008 and James Harden third in 2009. While Presti is epic, he hasn’t drafted another player to win All-Star or All-NBA honors or any of the league’s year-end awards since 2009. While he deserves credit for jump-starting OKC as a franchise, he’s been embarrassingly bad at finding talent since Harden.
But first the good. Durant won MVP in 2014, Westbrook in 2017 with the Thunder and Harden in 2018 with the Houston Rockets. It’s one of the greatest feats in NBA history to select three players who went on to be not only MVPs, but also named one of the 75 greatest players in NBA history and surefire first-ballot Hall of Famers. The trio share 33 All-Star selections, 26 All-NBA Team nominations, nine scoring titles and five season assist leader titles. But while Durant won two championships with the Golden State Warriors, Presti failed to bring a single championship to the franchise in the trio’s three years together in OKC and the 11 years Westbrook spent with the team. It is one of the greatest blunders of all time in sports history. But look closer and you will find another.
How everything fell apart
Now that we’ve acknowledged the historic back-to-back future NBA Draft selections that Presti found in the top four, let’s then delve deeper into what he did in the draft. During the Westbrook-Durant run from 2008 to 2016, the team was too good to be a draft lottery pick, so simple Presti sycophants (of which there are many in the OKC fanbase) will point out that Presti will have to make major changes to build a supporting cast for the competition. But the Thunder have only reached the Finals once, in 2012, in an embarrassing loss to three, then two superstars. Even though Harden held a reserve role in which he won Sixth Man of the Year honors, he was a superstar at waiting and able to take over games on his own. His failure to resign Harden and trade him for a future legacy in Houston remains a Presti contrast for another time.
From 2011 to 2017, Presti had a first-round pick in every draft except 2016. And instead of picking surefire complementary players to join Durant, he took what Thunder interns call “big swings.” This is important because he continued that failed approach with Thunder 2.0, making mistakes in the first and second rounds while trying to build around future MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who he envisioned in the greatest fleece of the 21st century had snapped. Below are the first-round picks Presti made from 2011 to 2017.
2011: Reggie Jackson, 24
2012: Perry Jackson, 28
2013: Steven Adams, 12
2014: Mitch McGary, 21
2015: Cameron Payne, 14
2017: Terrance Ferguson, 21
Aside from Adams, that’s a lot of busts. I won’t waste time going through every player Presti could have chosen instead, perhaps a safer or better replacement for Durant and Westbrook. But just looking at people like Ferguson tells you everything you need to know about how poorly Presti failed his eye test in the 2010s. And it continues in this current remodel.
Lu Dort was an undrafted gem that Presti picked up in 2020 before overpaying him with a five-year, $82.5 million extension, including $65 million guaranteed. His biggest lottery win was Josh Giddey in 2021 with the sixth pick. This season, Giddey was accused of having sex with an underage girl, and thanks to her parents’ refusal to cooperate, he was able to avoid further trouble. 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 Chet Holmgren as a star player who will fulfill his potential if he stays healthy. In that draft, Presti also received the draft steal of Jalen Williams with the 12th pick, which made his draft day trade to the New York Knicks so damn strange. The Thunder traded three future protected first-round picks to the Knicks for the 11th pick on draft day, acquiring long-term project Ousman Dieng, who was no longer in the Thunder’s rotation. In hindsight, this headache was unnecessary, especially considering these picks were initially acquired by the Thunder when they were selected and then traded to Alperen Şengün in 2021. This fumble is Presti’s worst draft day move and one he will regret.
Of the times Presti has been selected in the lottery (2007, 2008, 2009, 2013, 2015, 2021, 2022 (twice) and 2023), he has scored seven times (Durant, Westbrook, Harden, Adams, Holmgren, Williams and Wallace). ). ) and missed three (Cameron Payne, Giddey, Dieng). That’s a pretty solid rate over the last 15 years. But more than that, Presti was terrible when it came to less certain decisions. Of the 18 times he has been selected (and retained) between the 15th and 60th picks, he has only scored twice in his entire career: Serge Ibaka at No. 24 in 2008 and Reggie Jackson at No. 24 in 2011. Washouts like Mitch McGary, Ferguson and Theo Maledon were all out of the NBA in four seasons or less.
And what draft day trades has Presti made since taking over? He lost every single one. Just look:
2010 (lost): The Clippers acquired the 18th pick (Eric Bledsoe) in exchange for a future-proof first-round draft pick. The Thunder then used this pick in a trade with Boston that brought them center Kendrick Perkins.
2018 (lost): The Memphis Grizzlies acquired the 21st pick (Brandon Clarke) for the 2019 draft rights to the 23rd pick (Darius Bazley) and a future second-round draft pick from the Thunder. Bazley is no longer in the NBA.
2020 (lost): The Minnesota Timberwolves acquired Ricky Rubio, the 25th (Immanuel Quickley) and 28th picks (Jaden McDaniels), for the No. 17th pick (Aleksej Pokuševski). Poku was lifted earlier this month.
2021 (lost): The Houston Rockets secured the 16th pick (Alperen Şengün) for two future heavily protected first-round picks from the Wizards and Pistons. These picks would be assembled to select Dieng in 2023. Dieng is out of the Thunder rotation.
2022 (still open): Dallas traded the 10th pick (Cason Wallace) for the 12th pick (Derek Lively). While Wallace is an elite defender and three-point shooter, Lively is just the rebounder they needed to back up Holmgren. The Thunder are currently at the bottom of the league in rebounding.
The Thunder waived Poku earlier this month. Both Quickley and McDaniels start for their respective teams. Things were even worse when Presti drafted current Most Improved Player candidate Şengün in 2021, only to trade him on draft night for future protected picks that he would use in a trade with the Knicks to acquire Dieng. This season, Shengün is averaging 21.1 PPG, 9.3 RPG and 5 APG. Wasting Shengün is not only Presti’s worst draft decision ever, but also one of the worst draft trades of the 21st century.
That’s not to say that Presti wasn’t one of the best small market executives around. And his ability to build teams from the ground up is unparalleled. The trade for Gilgeous-Alexander remains the greatest fleece of modern times. But his ability to make it through the draft is largely the result of his consecutive future MVP selections in the late 2000s. Since then, he’s been one of the worst in the NBA at making lottery moves, and especially at finding players who still have good careers late in the first and second rounds. But as Presti’s Simps like to say, “You can’t make money out of fear of money.” Well, apparently it doesn’t make championships either.