Shai Gilgeous-Alexander “made a long term commitment to OKC”

The Oklahoma City Thunder are about set to tip off their season. Today those of us in the media assembled at the OKC Thunder practice facility and talked to Thunder General Manager Sam Presti for his preseason media Availability before the rest of the roster and head coach Mark Daigneault meet with the media on Monday, September 26th. The NBA opens up training camps on Tuesday, September 27th with OKC beginning their preseason slate on October 3rd before their October 19th regular-season opener. Presti had a lot to say about star guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

The last month has been full of hits for the OKC Thunder, from losing their 2nd overall pick Chet Holmgren for the entire season with a foot injury, and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander slated to miss at least the first two weeks of training camp with a grade 2 MCL strain.

While that puts a damper on the upcoming season, Gilgeous-Alexander should be ready by opening day, or quickly thereafter.

Oklahoma City Thunder general manager Sam Presti discussed Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Lu Dort making a “long-term commitment” to the franchise

The Shai Gilgeous-Alexander trade speculation has been running rampant since nearly the day he landed in Oklahoma City, irresponsibility so. Those trade talks only grew after the Utah Jazz shipped off Donovan Mitchell to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Gilgeous-Alexander became the new prized target of struggling large market teams who need a spark.

Sam Presti was asked about the attention this topic has gotten across social media, and his answer should assure some OKC Thunder fans, “the only reason we are talking about it is because another player on another team got traded and the aggregation machine needs more content.”

Presti went on to say “we love Shai [Gilgeous-Alexander] he is going to be such a good player. The thing about him is, you can not get long-term results with short-term people. Neither one of [Shai Gilgeous-Alexander or Lu Dort] are short-term people.”

This should (but likely won’t) put an end to the ridiculous trade speculation around Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Both SGA and Sam Presti have been bold enough to put their names on shutting down the idea of any discontentment around Gilgeous-Alexander and the franchise. At some point, we have to believe the people involved more than supposed “sources.”

While things can always change, and the NBA is full of drama around every corner, as of right now there is no need to worry about a Shai Gilgeous-Alexander trade until we hear otherwise.