Presti: Not expecting OKC downturn despite offseason departures — SkimNews
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- Sam Presti said at his annual preseason news conference that the Thunder's championship core of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, and Jalen Williams "has a chance to be as good if not better than any of the teams we've had," noting two of the three are not yet in their prime.
- Oklahoma City traded starter Lu Dort and key reserves Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins in cost-saving moves that shrunk the team's payroll by more than $300 million.
- Jalen Williams played just 38 games last season due to injuries, including a left hamstring strain that kept him mostly sidelined during the playoffs; Presti said "He looks fantastic" and expects him to "be himself again."
- The Thunder must replace roughly 10,000 combined minutes logged by Dort, Joe, and Wiggins over the past two seasons, with Presti conceding the team "has to give ourselves time to figure out the best way to position" without them.
- Presti pushed back on broad-brush narratives about the NBA's second apron, saying "the ghost in the machine is the finances, not so much the aprons" and arguing each team experiences the threshold differently based on its starting point and timeline.
- Last season ended with a Game 7 Western Conference Finals loss at home to the San Antonio Spurs after a string of untimely injuries derailed OKC's bid to repeat as champions.
Why it matters: OKC is trading depth to keep its MVP-era core intact, gambling that a healthy Gilgeous-Alexander, Holmgren, and Williams can carry the team past the Spurs roster that exposed their injury vulnerabilities. The $300 million payroll cut is concrete proof the CBA's second apron is already forcing structural reshuffling on reigning champions — Presti's refusal to call it a downturn doesn't change the math.
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