How OKC Thunders SAM PRESTI became the BEST executive in the NBA || Presti's MAGNUM OPUS

[@dugrigm4796]

What are your favorite moves Presti made? How would you rank the best executives in the NBA?

[@zaytino]

Vid aging perfectly

[@CaptainProx]

Not to mention he's been able to do ALL THIS while also building up OKCs reputation as a place that takes care of their players! He is an absolute Wizard

[@dugrigm4796]

Yeah, very true. Im so excited to see what he does over the next few years.

[@zodiac23jj]

Its funny because now that the trade deadline has passed OKC is under the cap floor, meaning all of their players will get a bonus to bring them back up to the floor. For most of them it would be about half or close to equal their current salary. Presti is really trying to build up OKC's reputation for the future

[@CaptainProx]

@@zodiac23jj I genuinely don't know how he's able to do all these things so effortlessly while other GMs can't even get out of the lottery for decades

[@dugrigm4796]

@@zodiac23jj And now has 34 picks over the next 7 years as ammunition to do it the way he wants

[@dugrigm4796]

@@CaptainProx So many GM's also just make moves to save their jobs

[@MelikhovProduction]

I feel like Presti’s best moves might still be ahead of him

[@dugrigm4796]

Yeah considering how many assets he is armed with that he can work with

[@martezhodges3418]

Of course just look at his future picks 😂

[@billvlahos5472]

The next couple of moves is going to make them or break them.The odds are stacked(excuse the pun) in making them.And we wait.Lets go.

[@itsfootballnotsoccer732]

Imagjne we get Wambenyama 😭

[@DNOLA-q5o]

Presti’s is a Genius

[@silkyjohnson4519]

Presti is the man. Cant wait to see what he pulls off for the thunder.

[@Abdouu6]

This video aged like fine wine... The Thunder are now the most dangerous team in the league

[@Mr_sil3n7kil3r]

As a thunder fan I’m so excited for our future and it’s all because of this amazing GM!

[@dugrigm4796]

You are in great hands.

[@collinyounng]

this is an amazing video. really hope sam stays here in okc forever. thank you man

[@dugrigm4796]

I appreciate that my man. I think he will be around to build his team with all the assets he has accumulated.

[@beckhamredepenning7366]

Love the video keep up the okc content

[@dugrigm4796]

Thanks man--Will do!

[@hubertsumlin9697]

there are some channels with good nba content that unfortunately feature what i consider deal breaker narration. your narration is just right. it matters for me, and the content is extremely sharp. great job!

[@dugrigm4796]

Thats nice of you to say. I appreciate it

[@cooler45ice9]

3 years later this is the more true video ever

[@qukenny6]

I don’t think giannis would be the player right now if he was drafted by thunder since the thunder were in win now mode with Westbrook and Durant and the bucks at the time were rebuilding so they have the patience to develop giannis. Just my thought. Great video btw

[@dugrigm4796]

Yeah but to be fair by year two Giannis was already a valuable contributor. Dion waiters and Reggie jackson were getting 30 min per night. Giannas was already better in his sophmore year. BTW man I appreciate your support!

[@itsfootballnotsoccer732]

Didn't they wanna trade and stash him that way he gets more playing time and experience?

[@kendostick34]

Great video I’m never a fan of looking back and picking out the better players who could have been drafted (Giannis). Credit for mentioning why teams didn’t draft the Greek freak Presti is my favourite GM hands down. The man has more moves than a chess grandmaster.

[@qukenny6]

Thunder pretty much won both the rockets and clippers trade!!

[@dugrigm4796]

Yeah those trades are looking better by the minute

[@axellopez4664]

You hit it once again bro!!! Love your videos G

[@zachwehner7439]

Great video man!

[@dugrigm4796]

I appreciate that

[@karl-heinzjean-francois8554]

We Got Chet Holmgrenn with the 2022 1st Round pick he was number Onew without him the thunder made the play-in and prove they have a Good Future ahead of them

[@jrg1231]

Sam presti is one cool customer

[@billvlahos5472]

Presti got a jar of magic dust he sprinkles on his pick before draft night & the rest is history.

[@josephduncan4356]

I think this time around Presti won't pick the temprimental superstars that are unpredictable and cause endless headaches

[@okcthunder8993]

So true

[@dugrigm4796]

Hopefully he wont. But its hard to tell sometimes. Kids turn into egomaniacs when franchises let them do whatever they want and they start getting rich young. I think how a prospect interviews has become a lot more important lately.

[@josephduncan4356]

@@dugrigm4796 I know, it looked liked Durant was well grounded. Dude came off the rails.

[@dugrigm4796]

@@josephduncan4356 Yeah exactly. Ego management is unavoidable it seems

[@cnance1972]

Yup get them all overseas and then language is a problem so they don't argue lol

[@harvey5721]

It’s crazy because Clippers are gonna be baaadddd in about 5 years so them picks will be vital

[@dugrigm4796]

So true. Clippers might be horrible even sooner. Same exact thing can happen with the rockets picks.

[@EscobarFurious]

Here's hoping Sam Presti's old assistant and current GM, Troy Weaver becomes the Eastern Conference version of him for my Pistons.

[@dugrigm4796]

Yeah man he could. Hopefully he wont be like Rob Hennigan was for the magic

[@jamesarciga9220]

Well he is Doctor Strange😂 He uses magic when he trades players😁

[@nick2131]

You gotta do a video on Nets GM Sean Marks

[@curtisgoulard3106]

Him and Danny ainge from the Celtics have been the best gm's of the past 30 years in my opinion.... yeah maybe they don't have the championships to back it up.... but they are always in the playoffs and their rebuilds never last long and they are great at trading and drafting.

[@khleezy5839]

Danny ainge won championship 2008. Sam Presti still hasn't had his team make the finals as in 2024 but with in couple years or so they could make it

[@madhardextrajuicy7884]

It’s like one of those “ I traded a toothpick for a house” tiktok s

[@ahmezing648]

Would you rather have presti with 40 picks or Masai Ujiri? For me it's masai, hands down.

[@dugrigm4796]

Masai is up there for sure. If you think hes the best i wont argue it. But id choose presti with 40 picks. The difference between the two in skills as executives isnt massive. Its not like one is far more talented than the other. They are both top tier. So i for sure would go with a top tier executive with 40 picks.

[@KKOPPONG]

The NBA should allow teams to rollover whatever amount of money they keep while under the salary cap to be added to the salary cap the following year. Teams that rebuild can use that money they’ve not used while rebuilding. With so many 1st round picks they’ll have high ass salaries after those rookie contracts.

[@shachaf21]

kep doing what your doing

[@dugrigm4796]

Thanks man will do

[@lcnava]

Presti is the reason the Thunder have the most promising future in the league

[@dugrigm4796]

Yeah no GM would have done better under his circumstances

[@okcthunder8993]

I agree

[@TheDeven1000]

Presti is the best GM in the league When you consider what he’s been able to achieve in such a small market team. Just imagine him in LA or NYC

[@kennethch9549]

Clay Bennett never forgave himself about the Harden trade and he shouldn't but the NBA economy was massively different back then compared to now.

[@stogram1130]

I’d rank Presti 1st. Masai 2nd. Buford 3rd. Morey 4th. Ainge 5th.

[@dugrigm4796]

Yeah that ranking makes sense

[@josephduncan4356]

For me Morey is on bottom ten list. The Harden find was good but he has destroyed Houston's future.

[@dugrigm4796]

Also Pat riley should maybe be in that top 5

[@dugrigm4796]

@@josephduncan4356 You talking about the westbrook trade?

[@stogram1130]

@@dugrigm4796 ooooh riley thats right. Thats tough. I might have to put riley ahead of Ainge actually

[@primeanon6047]

Its pat riley for me but Sam Presti is up there

[@dugrigm4796]

Thats fair. Pat Riley is elite. Top 5 for sure. How would you rank the top 5 executives

[@primeanon6047]

@@dugrigm4796 Riley at one, Ainge at 2.Masai at 3. Presti at 4 and John horst of the bucks at 5

[@dugrigm4796]

@@primeanon6047 Yeah thats a good list. Not sure id have Horst that high though

[@boogaloosun]

Danny made 1 move nothing since danny greedy and 🗑

[@nono-js1rs]

So you mean to tell me... presto gave the Spurs... the point guard... that consistently killed okc’s finals dreams... who the hell enabled friendly fire

[@4kilometers]

19 1st round picks

[@bradcornell6329]

At the time the harden trade I thought was pretty good. Harden still was all potential with playing under Durant and Westbrook. Also harden is not a winner and that is proven. So two firsts and a couple of solid bench players is a fairly good deal. I just think it gets scrutinized more cause of presti’s record.

[@thatkiddcreed5073]

As a thunder fan I wish we would’ve kept harden and got rid of Westbrook in 2012 . Love Westbrook and appreciate his effort but he’s AI without the shooting skills . Feel like with KD and harden we might’ve gotten a ring in either 2014 or 2016 . But oh well . Hopefully we can strike gold again . We’ve been more competitive this year than I thought

[@dugrigm4796]

Yeah you are right. Thunder indeed would have been better off. Im very surprised at how well the thunder have started the year. I do think they have one of the brighter future in the league

[@jrg1231]

I really believe that the reason he traded harden instead of westbrook came down to their character. Westbrook was starting a family and harden was in the club every night. He obviously ended up trading the wrong person but i really do think that’s what it came down to 🤷‍♂️

[@davidlstevens]

I watch basketball foe the highlights. Westbrook was 🔥 to watch.

[@vinh7889]

As a thunder fan you should feel ashamed for saying such blasphemy

[@y2kPunk]

Nah, Presti had trade override on

[@hoopinproductions5121]

Hey there! I just wanted to reach out to you for a business idea. Do you have any emails or socials I can contact you at? Thanks.

[@dugrigm4796]

Whats up man. Email is in the about page : )

[@hoopinproductions5121]

@@dugrigm4796 Thanks, I'll use that.

[@hoopinproductions5121]

@@dugrigm4796 Done, be sure to check it out :D

[@YankeeTCG]

I wish he was the Sac Kings GM the Kings can't draft, trade, hell they can't even develope their own

[@depressedcelticsfan8820]

SAM WESTI

[@doomsday8116]

Darryl Morey is similar to him

[@dugrigm4796]

Why is that? Because they are analytics driven? Morey actually doesnt value picks all that much. He thinks they are overrated. Hes been on record saying that.

[@dumbjoe4147]

Sam presti is making bench players average 5+, and because of this he will be able to trade some of his bench players for star players.

[@plgeorge1000]

because the spurs are engaged....

[@Kevinwatts0316]

Watch the 2021 draft 😈

[@dugrigm4796]

Yep. Thats when Presti will work his magic again

[@Kevinwatts0316]

@@dugrigm4796 I do not know why but I have a feeling Presti is going to take a liking to Zaire Williams and Scottie Barnes. I hope this ages well. OKC developmental team would turn them into superstars. Now you have 4 possible superstars: SGA, Zaire Williams, Scottie Barnes and Pokusevski.

[@Darealmenxce]

@@Kevinwatts0316 nah he looked outside the box. Looked for someone talks ab or who isn’t hyped up and it’s looking promising

[@KKOPPONG]

Sam Presti should go run the Knicks🤣

[@cnance1972]

Let's look back in 2026

[@Jesussaves852]

Jesus loves you and God bless you

[@mamba4evertv490]

Masai Ujiri is the best GM in the NBA.

[@dugrigm4796]

Thats fair. Masai is a superstar in his own right. Where do you rank Presti amongst the best executives.

[@shadow_realm47]

@@dugrigm4796 Top 2. Presti Drafts better at the top of the draft, Masai Trades marginally better and finds better gems from the g-league/outside the draft.

[@dugrigm4796]

@@shadow_realm47 Masai is incredible at finding gems. But Id argue presti is better at making trades than he is drafting. He has extracted crazy value. like the ibaka trade to orlando for example.

[@stephengarbark6018]

He’s playing chess not checkers

[@dugrigm4796]

Very true.

[@eugenesullivan2571]

Arturas Karnisova

[@dugrigm4796]

Interesting. How so? I know he has talent. But he hasnt done enough. Also to be honest im not a big fan of that vucevic trade for chicago. I think they will end up regretting it.

[@michaell6645]

Thunder need another G league team 🤣

[@jarodhendricks8338]

I think he's great but players are greedy you can't pay hundreds of millions too one player thats why the league is so different today

[@dugrigm4796]

Its more a percentage of the salary cap. Its more or less always been this way. It just looks insane when you see hundreds of millions going to one player but in reality the salary cap is much higher now, teams are making much more now and teams are valued at 5 times greater than they were valued 15 -20 years ago.

[@Darealmenxce]

Thunder fans or so called Okc fans told Presti to quit his job after getting Giddey over Kuminga and Bouknight from the looks of it, Sam had an amazing eye

[@abramcaparaz3873]

Why does he look like Candlestick Birthdaybash tho?

[@freemoney9769]

Not the best executive fam, doesn’t have a ring to show for it. But he is extremely good, not better than pat riley.

[@DoctorJammer]

He needs to learn how to assemble a good team with a scheme... not just make good trades and randomly assembling talent.

[@dugrigm4796]

But it starts with getting talent. His team got close

[@davidkrumme216]

Lol he traded harden and has been trading player to try and recoup every since. No other gm trades harden when they lose in the finals 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@dugrigm4796]

Thats more on ownership being cheap at the time. He didnt want to trade him

[@mikegwn1015]

Presti had THREE top 4 picks in a row and made one NBA final and then never made a conference final after that. He kept Westbrook far too long, traded Sabonis and Oladipo for two years of Paul George who never got them out of the 1st round. Then he gutted the team and stockpiled draft picks. His draft history isn't impressive when you take away his top 5 lottery picks. Presti has a ton of 1st round picks which he can use to acquire higher picks or superstar talent. But to say he's the best NBA executive is absurd. He is middle of the pack at best. How can you possibly say such a thing when you have teams like the Raptors, Heat, Nuggets, Portland and many other teams who have done far more with a lot less.

[@dugrigm4796]

Actually he has made the conference finals after that run. Also OKC had something like the 6th best record over the course of a decade stretch across all american sports. His job is to put together a winner and he did that. Its the players job to not choke in the playoffs. And at the end of the day he drafted those guys. Remember most thought presti was reaching when he drafted westbrook at 4 and there were some that felt rubio should have been selected 3rd instead of Harden. He has absolutely fleeced teams with trades and now has incredible recourses to rebuild properly. Oladipo and sabonis werent showing signs of crazy potential. And by the way he got them for an aging ibaka on an expiring deal and flipped them for a top 10 player. He made the right moves. Its not his fault they couldn't deliver. And then he pitted two teams against each other for a godfather offer for pg13 and now has a future all star in SGA and a mountian of picks. The guy is a master

[@mikegwn1015]

@@dugrigm4796 How hard is it to put together a winner when you have three top 4 picks in a span of 3 years? And if the players don't get it done that's also his fault. His job is to assemble a championship team. lol. He never got a championship despite having arguably the best trio in the history of basketball. He's drafted solid outside of the lottery and made some good trades. However, the Harden was a massive blunder. He got absolutely nothing for him and I believe they traded him so they could sign Ibaka. Although I could be wrong. There is just no excuse to not have a championship after having three top 4 picks. Westbrook played 10+ years there, KD played 8-9, Harden played 3 years, Ibaka played about 7-8 years. Presti has done a great of assembling draft picks recently. But I'm not sure how that takes much skill when he was able to acquire them by trading his superstars. Brooklyn could probably acquire about 20 1st round picks if they wanted to trade their superstars. lol.

[@jonathanoka7866]

@@mikegwn1015 as a celtics fan I felt this. Ainge outside the top 6 is mediocre at best. Kyrie trade didnt work out like pg13 trade. Young talent making conference finals appearances only to now faulter. In 2018 they were loaded with vets and the 2 kids, that was their window and it quickly closed. Imo Boston was better off double dipping in the lottery rather than compete with not a championship caliber teams. Now they only have JT and jb with no cap space bc the Kemba deal. 2yrs ago I never thought how bad theyd turn out. 20/20 Danny never trades for it4 stick the course they were on (top10 pick) stay with drafting Marcus smart, they could've went d fox instead of Jaylen brown, drafted MPJ with the #8 pick they sent for kyrie to Cleveland. No need for Kemba bc fox, so that's a max slot (plus bc I went a traditional rebuild not be competitive and still build) haywards max slot is empty in the words of kyrie "2 max slots" oh but now Horford is off the books!!!!! U have a core of fox,smart,mpj and tatum and let's not forget they went full rebuild so now those high 20s picks of their own is now in lottery range, even if u just get 1 good player of the 3 then that's a hit in itself given the projected roster. U can't tell me that fox,smart, mpj, Tatum, player X and 2 max slots (1next yr bc extension kicks in for Tatum) isnt more appealing than the hot mess they got right now. This isnt some crazy unrealistic scenario, it just involved patience of a rebuild instead of trying to speed up the process all by mearly not trading for it4 and drafting fox

[@mikegwn1015]

@@jonathanoka7866 Completely agree. I think what hurt Ainge is how much he overvalues his own players. I do like Jaylen Brown though. I think Ainge did really well on his top 5 picks but where he failed was not trading some of those mid to late 1st round picks that he got from other teams. When you got Tatum and Brown you gotta try your best to keep them together and then use your 1st round picks and depth to add another superstar. It's a superstar driven league.

[@shadow_realm47]

@@mikegwn1015 Bro Minnesota have had Number 1 picks and all stars for years. They are yet to make the playoffs without Jimmy Butler.

[@TerribleTake]

He’s not that great of a GM stockpiling 100 pucks doesn’t make you good lol

[@Vyuel]

Explain