Up next in 10
OKC Thunder Dynasty: Durant, Westbrook, Harden & the NBA Playoffs
203 views
Apr 14, 2025
Okay, maybe COMPLETED isn't the right word. Only because they have the greatest stockpile of draft picks the league has ever seen still at their disposal. But they're the 2nd seed in the West and 2nd in the league in Net Rating, so we get to call it complete lol.
View Video Transcript
0:00
I trust Sam Presti, their general manager there, as far as how he can rebuild this team or retool this team going forward
0:30
It's not this year, it's a little early, but I love this young core
0:33
It's hard not to, and they are loaded with draft picks. That was one of those wins that you just, in sharpie, write down like
0:43
okay, this is a real team. In 2007, Seattle Supersonics owner Clay Bennett made a shocking announcement
0:50
He had made a decision on his open general manager position. The candidate chosen was a 29-year-old kid from Concord, Massachusetts
0:58
by the name of Sam Presti. Many around the league questioned this choice as none other than the owner's puppet or frontman
1:04
Hired to take flack and run interference as the franchise prepped for its relocation to Oklahoma City
1:10
Jerry Brewer of the Seattle Times saw it differently. Not only had Bennett not just hired a puppet, but he had hired the absolute best man to step into this situation and thrive
1:20
He had just ensured his franchise would be a contender within four years, possibly sooner
1:24
Three weeks after Sam Presti got his general manager job in Seattle, he drafted Kevin Durant with the second overall pick in the 2007 draft
1:33
A year later, he would take what most called a reach at the time, Russell Westbrook at the fourth overall pick
1:38
and just a year after that would take James Harden with the third overall pick in the 2009 NBA draft
1:45
Sam Presti, in his first three seasons of being a general manager at 29, 30, and 31 years old
1:51
drafted three future MVP award winners with his first round picks. Now, this video could go into what went wrong in the early Oklahoma City Thunder days
2:00
with these three players and Sam Presti at the helm. But the topic of today's video begins in 2019
2:07
It's game five of the 2019 NBA playoffs. The third seed Portland Trailblazers are playing the sixth seed Oklahoma City Thunder
2:14
With only a few seconds left on the clock, Damian Lillard would pull up from 35 feet
2:19
and hit a game-winning three over Paul George, sending the Thunder home in five games Just two years removed from losing Kevin Durant to the Warriors and gaining Paul George in a trade the Oklahoma City Thunder were not able to have any success
2:34
in the playoffs. In Sam Presti's mind, it was time to retool and run it back, but Kawhi Leonard
2:39
convinced Paul George to join him in LA on the Clippers, so Sam Presti took full advantage of
2:46
that. Trading away PG-13 and in return receiving second-year guard Shea Gilgis-Alexander, Danilo
2:52
Gallinari, five first round picks, and two future first round pick swaps. One day later, Sam Presti
2:58
would work with Russell Westbrook to send him to the Houston Rockets, receiving Chris Paul
3:03
two future first round picks, and two future first round pick swaps in return as well. This was an
3:09
off-season haul that was unprecedented in NBA history. Going into the 2019-2020 season, the
3:15
Thunder were expected to win 31-32-ish games, but led by Chris Paul, a breakout Shea Gildas Alexander
3:21
Steven Adams and Dennis Schroeder they would make the playoffs and finish as the fourth seed in the
3:27
west in the COVID shortened season and after a hard-fought series versus the Houston Rockets that
3:32
went seven games the Thunder would lose and Sam Presti would then fully dive into this rebuild
3:38
trading away Chris Paul Dennis Schroeder and big man Steven Adams in return receiving an additional
3:43
three first round picks and multiple second round picks they'd go on to move up in the 2020 NBA draft
3:49
making a trade with the Timberwolves to acquire Alexei Pokashevsky, and interestingly enough
3:54
in return, the Timberwolves would get the 25th overall pick and the 28th overall pick
3:58
which turned into Emmanuel Quickly and Jaden McDaniels. Head coach Billy Donovan would not
4:03
return to the team in the offseason, and Sam Presti would promote within, hiring 35-year-old
4:09
assistant coach Mark Dagnalt to join him throughout this new rebuilding journey. OKC would finish 22-50
4:16
in the first year of their rebuild, landing them the sixth overall pick
4:19
in the 2021 NBA draft, where they would select 18-year-old, 6'8 Australian point forward, Josh Giddey
4:26
They also had two other first round picks in this draft, trading away Alper and Shingun
4:30
at the number 16 pick to the Rockets for two future first round picks and drafting Trey Mann at number 18
4:36
The following season, they'd continue their rebuild, semi-tanking alongside the Pistons, the Magic, and the Rockets
4:41
finishing at 24 and 58 and getting the fourth best odds in the lottery
4:46
where they'd experience some good fortune hopping the Pistons and the Rockets
4:49
taking 7 Unicorn out of Gonzaga with the number 2 overall pick Chet Holmgren They move up at number 11 and take Usman Jang trading three first protected picks to the Knicks And then with their own pick at number 12
5:02
from the Paul George trade, they'd take NBA combine riser Jalen Williams
5:06
out of Santa Clara. Unfortunately for Presti and the Oklahoma City Thunder brass
5:11
Chet would injure his foot before his rookie campaign could ever begin while playing in a Jordan Crawford-Seattle Pro-Am game
5:17
versus LeBron James, only a month or two before the season began
5:20
Somehow, someway, the Thunder still greatly outperformed expectations in much thanks to a huge leap from Shea Gilgis-Alexander, averaging 31 points per game, receiving first-team All-NBA honors
5:33
Josh Giddey also had solid numbers, averaging 16 points per game, 6.2 assists, and 8 boards
5:38
But the most surprising thing about this year's Thunder team was rookie Jalen Williams, who had finished runner-up in the Rookie of the Year that season, averaging 14.1 points per game
5:47
and playing a lot of five in a Thunder small ball system that greatly lacked a big man
5:52
The Thunder would sneak their way into the play-in after defeating the Pelicans in the 9-10 game
5:57
would get stomped in Minnesota versus the Timberwolves in a shot at the 8 seed
6:02
But the Sam Preston company, that was perfectly okay. Nobody expected the Thunder to be in this position to begin with
6:07
plus they had just lost their number two overall pick and were severely lacking a big man on this roster
6:12
As we approach the 2023 Oklahoma City Thunder, They would move up two spots from 12 to 10 and take Kentucky guard Case and Wallace
6:19
taking on Davis-Preton's $17 million for this season in return. As we fast forward to a quarter of the way through this NBA season
6:26
the Thunder are 13-6, their 5th in offensive rating and 5th in defensive rating
6:31
making them a net rating of plus 8.4, which is good for 2nd in the NBA behind only the Celtics
6:37
This team is clicking on all cylinders right now with Shea still playing at an all-NBA level
6:42
Chet looks every bit as good as advertised and was exactly what this Thunder team needed
6:46
averaging 17 points per game and shooting 39% from three while being the favorite to win rookie of the year so far
6:53
Jalen Williams has seen a nice uptick in points per game, averaging 17 points per game as well
6:58
Josh Kitty has not looked as good this year. He's having a little bit of a down season and he has some off-court issues, so we'll see what happens with that
7:04
But the two biggest revelations off the bench this year have been 24-year-old Isaiah Joe
7:08
who's shooting 47% from three on six attempts per game, averaging 10 points a game. And then OKC's
7:14
rookie guard Kaysen Wallace who is shooting an absolutely absurd 72 true shooting percentage And let not forget Lou Dort who an incredible wing defender and is shooting 40 from three But the absolute scariest part about this Thunder team is the amount of picks
7:30
they have stockpiled over the next couple of seasons. From now until 2030, on paper, the Thunder
7:36
had 15 first round picks and 22 second round picks. Now, I'm not going to bore you with all
7:42
the rules with protections and pick swaps and all those things, but out of the 15 first round picks
7:47
nine are absolutely guaranteed to arrive in the first round at some point. And to make things even
7:52
crazier, we all know that Sam Presti will not make a move that is rushed or short-sighted
7:57
Just in 2024 alone, the Thunder has their own first pick. Houston's first-round pick protected
8:03
top four. The Clippers' unprotected first-round pick. The Utah Jazz first-round pick protected
8:07
top 10, with the lowest of those going to the Indiana Pacers. So three first-round picks in
8:12
next year's draft if things go right. The Thunder are also doing this while being the second youngest
8:17
team in the NBA with an average age of 23 years old. Not to mention they're in an incredible spot
8:23
salary cap wise as well with only SGA not being on his rookie deal out of their top four players
8:29
Like I said earlier Sam Presti has been very vocal about how patient he will be when it comes
8:34
to making a blockbuster deal with these picks but it will be very intriguing as we approach the
8:40
February NBA trade deadline to see what the Thunder will do especially if they keep up the
8:45
pace they're currently at, which I don't see why they wouldn't. In my opinion, and maybe I'm crazy
8:50
and missing something, there hasn't been a team ever in NBA history in a position like Oklahoma
8:55
City right now, and it's almost all thanks to the man himself, Sam Presti. Second seed in the West
9:02
second best net rating, an ungodly amount of draft capital over the next couple seasons
9:07
and one of the best salary cap situations in terms of flexibility in the league. The biggest thing
9:12
it'll come down to for me is finding the right superstar fit to fit along this Oklahoma City team
9:19
I'm really uncertain if there's a player that fits that mold out there right now, and so it wouldn't
9:24
fully surprise me if Sam Presti stood pat this season and made a huge move in the offseason
9:30
Either way, I think the Thunder will almost certainly get a top four seed this year. Home
9:35
court advantage in the Western Conference. They're exciting to watch, and just an all-around perfect
9:41
rebuild job done by Sam Presti, even though the story isn't even close to being fully written yet
9:46
If you enjoyed this video, you'll enjoy the video I just made on the resurrection
9:49
of Rudy Gobert. Thanks for watching, and as always, we'll see you on the hardwood
#Basketball
#Sports