Will Dawkins Takes Wizards GM Job, Leaving Oklahoma City After 15 Years

Sam Presti is building a general manager pipeline out of Oklahoma City.

The Thunder have had a handful of executives since the franchise began in 2008, and really, the only consistent through it all has been Sam Presti. He’s been through two “rebuilds” now and is on his way to leading the Thunder to greatness once again.

Oklahoma City is consistently recognized as a top-notch franchise throughout the NBA, and has a strong reputation for building a team the right way. That reputation has been very clear lately in the amount of teams looking to hire front office members from Presti’s staff. The number just keeps on growing.

Monday, Presti lost one of his top executives in Will Dawkins, who is joining the Washington Wizards’ brass as the team's general manager. Dawkins was on the original Thunder staff in 2008 where he began his career as a front office intern and worked his way up the ladder.

Will Dawkins has been with the Thunder since their first season in OKC.

Dawkins started out as a front office intern and worked his way up to Vice President of Basketball Operations.

Wizards add a great executive and the Sam Presti front office tree grows. https://t.co/7wknMf9cXJ pic.twitter.com/7RZHmy41F3
— Brandon Rahbar (@BrandonRahbar) June 5, 2023

With the departure of Will Dawkins to take over as Washington’s general manager, five people from Sam Presti's OKC staff have now made the jump from Thunder assistant general manager to the general manager of another franchise. Rich Cho, Rob Hennigan, Michael Winger, Troy Weaver and now Dawkins, have all left Oklahoma City to take on the task of running a franchise elsewhere. With every departure, Presti’s legacy grows that much more, as he’s creating quite the tree of disciples throughout the NBA.

It's no wonder other NBA teams try to hire Presti's staff, as they have a front row seat watching teams put together the right way. Oklahoma City's first 15 years as a franchise have brought more success than some teams have ever experienced, with the only thing missing being a championship.

As long as Presti stays in OKC, the trend shouldn't be changing any time soon.

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