OKC Thunder: Presti given A+, A- grades in SI’s season report card

The envious state of the OKC Thunder during the early stages of their franchise rebuild can all be linked back to their General Manager, Sam Presti, and his tremendous wheeling and dealing ways over the last several offseason.

Due to his negotiation tactics, Oklahoma City has seemingly managed to end the hard work of a rebuild by nabbing a legitimate franchise building block in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, collecting a total of 34 draft picks through the year 2027, and bringing on some solid young talents along the way.

This past season, the 13th-year GM remained quite active as busy despite it being a tankathon type campaign for the organization.

He kicked off the league year with the Chris Paul trade that sent him to Phoenix for more valuable assets in draft capital and some young players, made some savvy decisions via the 2020 NBA Draft, and brought on a few low-key players throughout the year who later wound up being viewed by the fanbase as diamonds in the rough.

His excellence was on full display throughout the 2020-21 campaign, which is why Sports Illustrated’s Nick Crain and Derek Parker went about and gave Presti end of season grades of A+ and A-, respectively.

For Crain, he went about and stated that Presti is the “only guy in the entire Thunder organization” that he felt comfortable giving a perfect grade to.

Citing the constant stockpiling of draft assets, coupled with the plethora of young talent acquisitions made throughout, Crain believes that the GM’s actions solidified the OKC Thunder’s status as the most promising rebuilding franchise in the NBA.

Parker, while not giving a perfect score, still brought up the same key points from Presti’s campaign, but noted that continuing his success into this coming offseason will be the most pivotal when it comes to the Thunder’s future.