Rumors about trades and deals have been swirling around the Oklahoma City Thunder for months, ever since General Manager Sam Presti negotiated deals to send away OKC’s top two stars in Paul George and Russell Westbrook.
It seems no one has been immune to gossip. As it turns out, neither is Presti.
There’s a lot to unpack, but first, as difficult as a rebuild in Oklahoma City could be, at least the Thunder aren’t the New York Knicks.
The saga of James Dolan and David Fizdale continued this week, thanks in part to the Knicks’ 120-102 blowout loss to Chicago. Although they recovered nicely with a win over the Dallas Mavericks on Thursday night, Fizdale is still considered to be on the hot seat, especially following the team’s previous loss to the Bulls—one in which rookie Coby White outscored the entire Knicks team by himself in the fourth quarter of the contest.
Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News believes that if Dolan moves to fire Fizdale during the regular season, it could also jeopardize the status of those in the front office. Should a scenario unfold where team president Steve Mills or GM Scott Perry be out of a job, one of the names reportedly being tossed around is Presti.
“There is already speculation around the league about potential front office replacements, with two names surfacing most often: Toronto president Masai Ujiri and Oklahoma City GM Sam Presti. Presti (meanwhile) sprouted from the Spurs tree and has served as the Thunder’s GM since 2007. He drafted Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden but has been hamstrung by running a team in one the league’s smallest markets. After 12 years in OKC, it’s easy to envision him being tempted by New York.”
Right now, that’s certainly a lot of speculation. Fizdale, Mills, and Perry are all still employed and other names as potential candidates would likely come up should there be an opening in New York.
But it wouldn’t be completely unreasonable for the Knicks to make a run at Presti, should the opportunity present itself.