Sam Presti Explains Why He Didn't Trade Chris Paul and Danilo Gallinari
Remember the 1989 classic Major League? About three-fourths of the way through the film, Clevland Indians Manager Lou Brown tells his team that owner Rachel Phelps built their roster to finish dead last so that she could relocate to Miami and start over with better players.
During the 2019-2020 season, the Thunder found themselves in a situation where Sam Presti could have offloaded Chris Paul and Danilo Gallinari for draft picks or younger players to begin rebuilding. Presti chose not to go that direction, and now Oklahoma City could be the most dangerous team in the Western Conference.
During his teleconference with the media on Wednesday, Presti said that most people's expectations about the Thunder were based on him pivoting away from a few of his current players. We were preparing ourselves for a long process that saw Presti use his draft collateral to build a winner of four or five years.
But, as the Oklahoma City General Manager points out, there's a "significant amount of randomness" that happens in the NBA every year, and you have to give teams time to figure themselves out. In a moment of transparency, Presti says there may have been something at some point that would have made the Thunder pull the trigger on a deal for any number of players.
But, because the Thunder have Paul "one of the premier point guards in history," Presti wanted that to "take its shape" to see how it all play out.
"There's a lot of things that have to go right in order for things to come together."..."But I think we decided that this team needed the opportunity to see if that could take place."
"At any point in time, every single team in the league is looking to improve or get better."..."I think we just valued the opportunity to see if this team could play in meaningful games higher than the things that maybe other people were willing to present to us."
It's doubtful that Paul and Gallinari feel this is there last best chance to win a championship. Gallinari is a free agent at the end of this season, and a contender will value his services.
The Thunder will want to part with the $85-million left on Paul's contract and as Presti showed with Paul George and Russell Westbrook he will do his best to put players in a desirable situation. Till then, as Jake Tayor says, " I guess there's only one thing left to do."...."Win the whole (blank) thing."
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With more than 20 years of experience hosting local and national radio shows, Erik Gee is a fixture of Oklahoma sports media. He has covered the Oklahoma City Thunder for the past six seasons. He is also the co-host of the Pat Jones show on 97.1 The Sports Animal in Tulsa
