OKC Thunder: Peers get it wrong placing Sam Presti 2nd in Executive of Year

OKC Thunder head man Sam Presti finished second in Executive of the Year voting but the executives definitely got this one wrong.

The last major NBA team award was for 2019-20 Executive of the Year. A panel comprised of 29 executives voted to determine the winner.  Lawrence Frank of the Clippers claimed the top spot while OKC Thunder executive Sam Presti was second.

As per NBA.com, the top three vote recipients were Frank who collected 10 out of the 29 first-place votes with a cumulative total of 61 points. Presti received four first-place votes collecting a total of 41 points while Pat Riley also received four first-place votes and was third with 39 points.

As with all the awards first-place votes were worth five points, second worth three, and third worth one point.  Similar to all the award voting was based on games played up to March 11th and did not include the Orlando bubble seeding games.

Presti gets robbed by peers for Executive of Year award:

Frank was clearly credited for the signings of Kawhi Leonard and the trade to bring Paul George to the Clippers. Yet, the reality is neither of these deals had much to do with the Clippers proactively making moves. Leonard made it abundantly clear even prior to his trade to the Toronto Raptors from the San Antonio Spurs his desire was to play in his home market of Los Angeles.

Moreover, Leonard was not keen to join the Lakers as it would position him as the third option behind LeBron James and Anthony Davis. This put the Clippers in the driver’s seat to land Leonard in free agency. LA immediately began a year-long recruitment of the star, committing what was essentially tampering by having executives attend the majority of Raptors games.