Biggest question OKC Thunder GM, Sam Presti must answer in 2019-20 season

Does Sam Presti have another rabbit or two to pull out of his hat?

If you read my Billy Donovan article, the results of Sam Presti’s approval poll were…much different.

For as many fans that hate Billy Donovan with a burning and fiery passion that fuels Thunder twitter almost as much as a Russell Westbrook dunk would (ouch, okay that hurt me typing it), they love Sam Presti. In fact, almost everyone in the Oklahoma City Thunder fanbase calls Presti a wizard or a play on that in some way.

The hype around Sam Presti has only grown since he pulled off a historic haul for a disgruntled star while not allowing it to turn into a messy soap opera.

That leads us to the one burning question around Presti entering the 2019-20 season.

Does Sam Presti still have a few tricks up his sleeve for the season ahead?

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Sam Presti is saddled with what pretty much everyone is calling the worst contract in the sport, in Chris Paul. Paul’s only real competition for that throne is John Wall, who has seen his career in Washington derailed by injuries.

He also has the ever valuable but often injured, Danilo Gallinari. A player that every single team knows Presti is looking to unload as Gallinari enters the final year of his deal and the Thunder look for more assets.

Dennis Schroder, Andre Roberson, and Nerlens Noel are all up for grabs as well. While Nerlens Noel will not get a lot in return, the Thunder would want to stockpile as many assets as possible, especially if Justin Patton can slide into the backup center role with ease.

Getting off of Dennis Schroder’s massive deal, and the offensive liability Andre Roberson will be a tall task for any General Manager.

Presti’s top assets either have contracts that are viewed as close to unmoveable as possible, or he has no leverage on them as everyone knows Presti will shop the asset.

That does not put the return on investment value all that high. However, Presti has seen worse odds in his time at the helm of the franchise. These are the same things that were said about moving the Russell Westbrook contract, and Presti earned two, first-round picks and a couple of pick swaps from Houston.

A successful season would be getting a nice return for Gallinari, and getting out of Schroder’s contract without putting a dent in the pile of assets accrued. Dumping the other players listed would be the cherry on top, but given the difficult task that might have to wait until the offseason and unlike this summer the next offseason offers an awful free agency pool.