sampresti Page 2 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights
Come home, Kevin Durant
The NBA’s greatest epics have been built around a meteoric star crash landing in a small market, galvanizing the city around their greatness in hopes of delivering glory. Think LeBron James in Cleveland, Dirk Nowitzki in Dallas, Tim Duncan in San Antonio, Isiah Thomas in Detroit, Hakeem Olajuwon in ...
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the next big thing
Let’s get this out of the way. This is not a trend piece arguing why Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander needs to be playing in a bigger market. SGA is just fine where he is. Sure, he could “save” plenty of franchises like the New York Knicks, Toronto Raptors, or Los Angeles Lakers....
The Thunder shouldn’t move Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, but they should make a trade elsewhere
Of the eight players currently averaging more than 30 points per game, there’s one who’s not like the others. Out of Luka Dončić , Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Joel Embiid, Jayson Tatum, Donovan Mitchell, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, I think it’s easy to pick out who I’m referri...
A decade after the Thunder traded James Harden, regret should linger
A decade after Oklahoma City traded James Harden on the eve of the 2012-13 regular season, it still stands as an atrocity upon the art of dynasty-building. As the central players involved in that deal wind down their Hall of Fame careers in bleak situations, there is no more denying it, Oklahoma Cit...
Ten players that teams in the 'Lose-O-Rama for Wembanyama' should ship
After the matchup between Victor Wembanyama’s Metropolitans and Scoot Henderson’s G League Ignite teams earlier this month, where the projected No. 1 and No. 2 picks faced off in must-see-TV, half the NBA should have shifted into full-on tank mode. Why meddle in mediocrity if you’re the Orlando Magi...
Every NBA team’s Super Fan
With the NBA season about to kick off, let’s do a Super Fan roll-call!...
Sam Presti, mixed bag
Sam Presti is lucky he’s in Oklahoma City. He would be held accountable for his screwups if he were in charge of a larger market franchise with a longer-tenured and demanding fanbase. But, before we tackle those, Presti has proven to be one of the best judges of talent and character. He has crushed ...
In the NBA, who just got overpaid? And who got underpaid?
One of the best things about NBA Free Agency is witnessing the many athletes who have spent years toiling on blacktop courts in ignored corners get paid. Nothing wrong with hard-working people getting money legally. Isn’t that the American Dream? Playing armchair quarterback in group chats, comment ...
2022 NBA Draft Profile: Chet Holmgren
It almost feels too perfect. The scrawny, 7-foot, 195-pound sopping wet Chet Holmgren from Gonzaga playing for the Oklahoma City Thunder. It’s easy to imagine him sharing the court with Josh Giddey and Aleksej Pokusevski. Three caucasian dudes, all above 6-foot-8, and all with diverse skill sets and...
Thunder, Magic luck out in a top-heavy NBA draft
After three years of embarrassing tanking, GM Sam Presti and the Oklahoma City Thunder have returned to relevance. They came into the NBA Lottery with the sixth-best odds at the top pick in the 2022 NBA Draft and ended up with the second pick in the draft. The Orlando Magic won the first pick and wi...
This inconsistent and deteriorating version of James Harden is a present and future problem for Sixers
After Tuesday night’s 120-85 loss to the Miami Heat, James Harden and Joel Embiid are Thelma and Louise-ing towards a cliff’s edge. In Embiid’s defense, the MVP runner-up has played with a broken bone in his face since Game 3. The franchise cornerstone will have better days ahead. Harden’s 31-point,...
The NBA future is... WOWZA!
The NBA has never felt younger and more reliant on up-and-coming stars than it does today. Teams are beginning to utilize the draft more and more. We’ve seen plenty of tank-a-thons by teams in the last five years, and these efforts have panned out to varying degrees. For some, it has materialized in...
The Kemba-Horford deal should work for both the Celtics and Thunder
Admit it. You woke up not knowing that NBA teams not currently playing could make trades during the playoffs. Don’t feel bad — a lot of people learned that today, in a startling way. ...
NBA Teams Shouldn't Be Allowed To Even <i>Think </i>About 2026
Daryl Morey and the Houston Rockets pushed the absolute limits of the NBA’s rules on trading draft picks to dump Chris Paul in Oklahoma City and bring in a slightly younger ball-dominant point guard—one who’s only two years removed from his last All-NBA first team appearance instead of five. To ditc...
Sam Presti Has An Uplifting Message For Thunder Fans
So, it sucks to be a Thunder fan right now. Kevin Durant, the face of your team for as long as your team has existed, has left for your rivals. Your title hopes are, for the immediate future, nonexistent. How do you deal with this shock? (Other than, you know, coating a Durant jersey in kerosene and...
Kevin Durant Out Indefinitely With Persistent Foot Soreness
Thunder GM Sam Presti held a press conference today to announce that his team is super boned. Well, he didn't say that specifically, but that's about all there is to be gleaned from his announcement that Kevin Durant, who was supposedly close to returning to the team after missing the last 13 games ...