Putting the future ahead of the present
Even Presti’s trade with George is all about the future. Rather than accepting — the less lucrative from a draft pick standpoint — package from Toronto; which included the Raptors rising star Pascal Siakam. Instead of jumping at the chance to acquire an established building block for the rebuild; Presti could not resist the draft pick’s LAC included in the PG transaction.
In the end, Toronto didn't have assets to satisfy OKC --- with or without Siakam in any proposed deal. The fear of Toronto entering into trade talks with OKC only proved to guarantee the Clippers would go the distance with five first-round picks and SGA in deal for George.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 6, 2019
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Aside from the fact, it’s unknown where any of these picks will land in the draft, nearly half of them are not projected to be in the lottery. All of these picks are figurative lottery tickets, is there a chance you win the lottery when you purchase a ticket? Absolutely; but the chances of not hitting the jackpot far outweigh the odds of becoming a millionaire.
The same can be said regarding the trade Presti made to move George, Oklahoma City essentially traded PG for seven chances to draft another superstar.
Where does Oklahoma City go from here?
The biggest question for the Thunder now is how many more years are they going to waste with Presti leading the helm? Is the OKC Thunder brass going to allow Presti to taint the next era, sending Oklahoma City into an endless abyss of basketball purgatory, where they are not good enough to win a title, but not bad enough to rebuild through the draft?
While Sam Presti continues to focus on the future, the Thunder need to evaluate his future as the president of Basketball Operations and General Manager. Because what many believed would be the golden era of Thunder basketball is done, but it’s not too late to save what comes next.