What does NBA championship mean for Sam Presti's legacy? Everything
Ain't a thing without the ring.
That's the phrase most Sam Presti haters have leaned on over the last two decades. While the Oklahoma City Thunder have been a perennial contender since he took the GM job in 2007, a lack of a championship has been his biggest Achilles heel.
Sure, Presti drafted three MVP winners and developed another in Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Sure, the Thunder have been a title contender for most years. Sure, OKC is regarded as one of the best drafting organizations. Sure, every NBA player who's played here has mostly enjoyed their time.
But being short of a championship has been the ultimate go-to argument used against Presti. Stephen A. Smith has made a living out of it. Anytime Presti has been brought up, he'd repeat his same argument like a toy action figure who only has a limited number of sayings recorded when you press their button.
"Sam Presti will finally have an opportunity to win a championship. He's done everything else except that. With the talent he's accumulated, you got to win a 'ship," Smith would repeatedly say across the airwaves.
As oversimplified as that might be, there's no denying how popular that thought was about the Thunder and Presti. You have all these team and individual accolades stuffed in your trophy case, but no Larry O'Brien. Well, that finally changed this past Sunday.
The Thunder completed one of the greatest seasons ever with a Game 7 win over the Indiana Pacers to seal the 2025 NBA Finals. With a coinflip chance to end up as one of the best teams ever or biggest disappointments ever, OKC was on the right side of the 50-50 shot.
A historic 68-14 regular-season campaign won't go in vain. Gilgeous-Alexander's historic MVP season won't be viewed in the same way as 2007 Dirk Nowitzki. Instead, Brian Windhorst has argued that his 2025 year is up there with 2013 LeBron and 1996 Michael Jordan as some of the greatest individual seasons the NBA has ever seen.
The Thunder can thank Presti for that. Some luck was involved for sure. But luck is hard work that meets opportunity. Nobody thought Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams would develop into Gen Z Jordan and Pippen. Same with Mark Daigneault as he ascended into one of the best coaches. Hitting on the margins with second-round and undrafted players like Lu Dort, Aaron Wiggins, Kenrich Williams and Isaiah Joe has also helped. Hitting a home run with lottery selections like Cason Wallace is also the lifeblood for the small-market franchise.
That doesn't even include having the resources and rapport to pull off last year's offseason additions of Alex Caruso and Isaiah Hartenstein. The stars aligned for the two veteran pieces to come in and boost OKC's chances to win a title.
Once you win a championship, your entire legacy is recontextualized. That goes beyond the players. For Presti, it means he's cemented his spot as one of the greatest NBA GMs ever. Conventional wisdom has caught up to the reality that OKC folks and every smart NBA analyst have known about him for years.
And considering the Thunder's runway with Gilgeous-Alexander, Williams and Chet Holmgren on the verge of being locked down for the foreseeable future, it's easy to see them run off with more deep playoff runs and even more championships.
Nobody else is better set up to contend in the short-term and long-term future. Presti has his fingerprints all over this Thunder championship roster. Now that he's reached the NBA's mountaintop, there's nothing left for his biggest doubters to hang onto.
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