Sam Presti dishes on the potential for the OKC Thunder to add a star

The OKC Thunder have a lot to look forward to this season. After a year in which they saw a 16-win improvement and their first postseason appearance in two seasons, things are looking up for the Oklahoma City Thunder. This has been a rebuild that has traveled at warp speed, already netting one of the best young cores in the NBA, and that has left fans wanting the organization to go “all in” on a massive trade for a star.

The Oklahoma City Thunder made General Manager Sam Presti available to those of us in the Media last week as a precursor to Monday’s Media Day. Presti was asked about the possibility of the OKC Thunder hunting for a big star.

Sam Presti discusses why the OKC Thunder have been so patient on the NBA trade market despite outside noise.

From the National Media to some within the OKC Thunder fanbase, many have wanted the Thunder to go chase a superstar that hits the open market. In the NBA, disgruntled stars are just around the corner, and with the collection of talent and future draft picks, the Thunder have what it takes to land any of these big names.

It is why they get shoehorned into the conversation despite the constant internal development. While last season was a sugar rush, this Oklahoma City Thunder young core has played precisely zero minutes together.

With Chet Holmgren set to make his NBA debut this season, it will give us our first wave of data points for the what the OKC Thunder might need in the future to complete this core—an impossible question to answer right now definitively.

Instead of taking wild guesses or even calculated, well-thought-out guesses, the OKC Thunder have the benefit of being able to wait and see. Not rushing into a big splash that handcuffs them long-term to an awkward fit as the Minnesota Timberwolves did.