Latest news with #Presti
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Thunder star player has successful wrist surgery, according to team
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — The Oklahoma City Thunder report that Jalen Williams had surgery on his right wrist, and it was successful. He will be re-evaluated in approximately 12 weeks. Williams appeared in 69 games during Oklahoma City's championship season and averaged 21.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, 5.1 assists, and 1.61 steals in 32.4 minutes per game. Advertisement Williams was injured during the Thunder's 125-112 win over the Phoenix Suns on April 9. The 24-year-old Williams is expected to be ready for next season, Presti said. Williams was inactive for the final two games of the regular season after playing 36 minutes in a 125-112 victory over Phoenix on April 9. Williams wrote a brace on the wrist on his shooting hand at times during the playoffs and had it taped during games. He shot just 30% from 3-point range in the playoffs, more than 6% off his percentage during the regular season. 'The part that I'm most impressed with is in our modern era, when someone has a poor performance or they're not playing to their capability in a game and there's a lot of attention on it, you often see a little birdie make sure that everybody knows that the player is not 100%,' Presti said during his season-ending meeting with reporters. 'Never happened with this guy, not one time. He powered through. He showed incredible mental endurance and security in himself.' Advertisement Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Oklahoma City.
Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Thunder GM Sam Presti says Nikola Topić 'made great strides' ahead of NBA Summer League
If you buy something through a link in this article, we may earn commission. Pricing and availability are subject to change. Nikola Topić didn't play a second of his rookie season with the Thunder, yet he still made NBA history. The Serbian guard fell to the 12th pick in the 2024 NBA Draft after an ACL injury that sidelined him for OKC's run to the 2025 NBA championship, making Topić the first player in league history to win an NBA title without playing. Advertisement Now, Topić is set to make that bit a trivia a footnote in his career with his upcoming debut in NBA Summer League. The Thunder will face the Grizzlies at 6 p.m. Saturday in its Salt Lake City Summer League opener. Thunder general manager Sam Presti thinks the redshirt season can be a positive thing for Topić. 'We've seen this before, where somebody has a year where they can just focus on getting their feet underneath them as an NBA player, working on their body, learning the league,' Presti said during his offseason news conference June 30. 'I think he's made great strides during this period of time.' Topić made his professional debut in 2022, at age 16. He played in Europe until the Thunder drafted him last year. While he has experience under his belt, Topić hasn't stepped on the court in over 365 days. Advertisement 'We'll see when he gets out there playing in Summer League,' Presti said. 'He hasn't played 5-on-5 with, like, scoreboard, referees, people in the stands. We've got to give him some grace on that, but certainly excited to see him and what he offers to the team.' More: NBA Summer League 2025: OKC Thunder roster, schedule and everything else to know Pre-order our new book on Thunder's run to NBA title SALT LAKE CITY, UT - JULY 8: Nikola Topic of the Oklahoma City Thunder sits behind the team bench during the first half against the Philadelphia 76ers during an NBA Summer League game at the Delta Center on July 8, 2024 in Salt Lake City, Utah. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photographer, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of Getty Images License Agreement.(Photo by) Two Thunder assistant coaches will lead the Summer League teams. Daniel Dixon will lead the team going to Salt Lake City (July 5-8), while Connor Johnson is in charge of the Las Vegas group (July 10-20). Advertisement Thomas Sorber, who was the Thunder's first-round pick last month, is on the Summer League roster but is expected not to play while dealing with a foot injury. Fellow rookie Brooks Barnhizer will join Topić in his Thunder debut. The Summer League, played alongside other rookies, sophomores and G-league players, will be Topić's first chance to make an impression in a game. 'We're not trying to fit him into last year's team,' Presti said. 'We're just trying to see where we are with our guys when we're back here, and then we'll go through the same process we go through every year, which is discovering the team, experimenting, looking at a lot of different options and lineups, trying to develop the collective team and how everybody can work within that.' A key point for the Thunder's success this season was the chemistry between the players, and Presti will look to find a place for Topić's strengths in a relationship-based roster. Advertisement 'The cohesion of a team is how everybody's individual strengths can be operating kind of in unison without anybody really having to be stepped on or muted, and that's going to be different,' Presti said. 'I've used the mixing board example in the past. I really like that one. But in order for somebody to be turned up a little bit, it might be that somebody needs to turn down. Not out. 'We've seen that through the year, that in order to integrate or bring different people into the fold because they're able to contribute a certain level, in order to have everyone playing well at the same time, there needs to be cohesion, and part of that is figuring out how we pull back in an area or maybe play a different lineup so we can get the best of somebody at a certain point in the game.' More: Thunder mailbag: Will Nikola Jokic, Nuggets be OKC's biggest threat in the West? Sign up for the Thunder Sports Minute newsletter to access more NBA coverage. Advertisement Thunder 2025 NBA Summer League schedule All times Central Salt Lake City Summer League Saturday, July 5: OKC vs. Memphis at 6 p.m. (ESPNU) Monday, July 7: OKC vs. Philadelphia at 6 p.m. (ESPN) Tuesday, July 8: OKC vs. Utah at 8 p.m. (NBA TV) Las Vegas Summer League Thursday, July 10: OKC vs. Brooklyn at 4:30 p.m. (ESPN2) Saturday, July 12: OKC vs. Indiana at 4:30 p.m. (NBA TV) Tuesday, July 15: OKC vs. Orlando at 5:30 p.m. (NBA TV) Wednesday, July 16: OKC vs. New Orleans at 8:30 p.m. (NBA TV) This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Nikola Topić 'made great strides' for Thunder before NBA Summer League
USA Today
05-07-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Sam Presti hilariously admits to old jazz-rap albums: 'It's a little embarrassing'
Rumors of the album's existence have floated on the internet for years. Pablo Torre unearthed it recently after his hands were dirtied with investigative skills that would make Sherlock Holmes blush. Every year, Sam Presti drops some musical references in his bi-annual state of the Oklahoma City Thunder address. He's talked about how his love for playing the drums rivals his love for scouting talent at small schools and nearly-empty gyms. So it shouldn't be shocking to learn the general manager was once a self-made musician. Presti's jazz-rap album "Milk Money" has recently resurfaced online. Torre was able to find a hard copy of the CD. While he didn't play the eight-song album, confirming its existence was enough to hear him address it in his 2024-25 end-of-season press conference. "Yes, I can confirm that," Presti said with a smile. "This was a long, long time ago when I was in college. I certainly didn't expect it to become public, part of the public record. But yeah, we did a couple of those, and it was a great experience for me getting to be around so many people — the second one is the one — if we were going to unearth one, I was like, 'Maybe it'll only be the second one, it won't be the first one.'" It's funny to hear Presti admit there's a second one. From my knowledge, that wasn't public information. Perhaps he admitted that to challenge people to find it. Or perhaps he's already scrubbed it offline and taunted those who were ambitious to attempt to find the second album like they were Indiana Jones. "But you have to be able to laugh at yourself. You have to be able to have fun with it. We were all young at one time," Presti said. "I learned a lot from that experience, especially the second one. The second one was — I learned a lot from the first and then carried that to the second one." That was quite a way to end Presti's press conference. Many looked forward to it as it was the first time he publicly spoke since the Thunder won the NBA championship. Fans entered with the hope of hearing him run a victory lap. Instead, they exited with him begrudgingly addressing his old music career. "But yeah, as long as they don't unearth my break-dancing videos when I was eight then I'm going to consider myself ahead of the game, so I've already called my mom and said, 'You know where those are, right? They cannot see the light of day,'" Presti joked. "You have to laugh at yourself, have fun with it. We were all young. It was part of my life that I had no idea would see the light of day, and it's a little embarrassing, but it's all good. It's all good."
USA Today
05-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Count Sam Presti as an Ousmane Dieng believer: 'He's on the right track'
Still one of the youngest players on the Oklahoma City Thunder, Ousmane Dieng still has one big supporter despite three shaky years. Sam Presti has liked what he's seen so far from the 22-year-old, knowing he was going to be a long-term project when added with the 2022 No. 13 pick. From the Thunder's historic 2022 draft haul, Dieng has been the odd man out. Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren have ascended into stardom. Jaylin Williams has carved out a nice backup role and was recently rewarded with a contract extension. Meanwhile, Dieng has little to write home. He's averaged 4.3 points and 2.2 rebounds in his three seasons. He's only played 109 career games in that span. His career high is 39 games from his rookie year. He simply hasn't had enough opportunities to build up a real resume. Whether because of a lack of experience or injuries. Despite that, Presti believes Dieng is on the right path. Just because he's been buried in the depth chart of an NBA champion doesn't mean he's not a suitable NBA player. The 22-year-old has shown flashes throughout his tenure. There'd be games where the 6-foot-10 forward shows off his handle and gets in a rhythm. "He had some great moments for us this year in real rotation minutes, minutes he could not have provided the year before. I like his path because when we drafted him, he was maybe the youngest or one of the youngest players in that draft class, so we knew this was going to take some time," Presti said about Dieng. "He also was coming from overseas, which is another factor you have to kind of bake into the pathway just with language and some different assimilations." Everybody knew Dieng was going to be a long-term project when he was drafted. He was about as raw as they came in terms of draft prospects. That meant you couldn't expect much out of his first two seasons. He quietly worked on his game with the G League's OKC Blue, where he's dominated over the years. To the point he was named the G League Finals MVP when they brought home the championship in 2023. "I feel pretty good about where he is. I wish he had more time when we had those injuries because when he did get those chances, he had a huge game against Dallas. We wouldn't have won that game against Dallas," Presti said. "I think he had one against San Antonio that was really good, maybe Denver. He was contributing to winning. That's all you can ask for from these guys." It's all about role fit and confidence for Dieng. He won't get the same on-ball reps on the Thunder as he does on the Blue, but that doesn't mean he can't contribute. If he can figure out how to be a catch-and-shoot threat with the occasional slash to the basket sprinkled in, he can develop into an NBA wing. To Dieng's credit, he's come a long way from the start of his career. He was somebody who struggled with confidence early on with the Blue. Now, when he rarely gets assigned there, he becomes the primary ball-handler and gets into a groove. The next step is for him to downsize that role in the NBA. With one year left on his contract, Dieng will have limited time to prove that. It'll be an uphill battle for him. But even if it doesn't work out in OKC, it sounds like Presti believes he'll eventually find his role in the league. It might just not be on the Thunder. "I think he's on the right track. Now, his biggest change to me is just his body, his physical," Presti said. "He's really, really changed his body and that's through a lot of hard work, and that's, I think, given him a different level of confidence which has helped him play in these games."
USA Today
04-07-2025
- Sport
- USA Today
Sam Presti tells 2 stories about Jaylin Williams' personality: 'He's a source of energy'
As the Oklahoma City Thunder celebrated their 2025 NBA championship in their parade, Jaylin Williams was one of the highlights of the event. He made it worth it for the thousands of folks who battled through the high heat by voicing an epic WWE-esque speech that made Stone Cold Steve Austin smile. The Thunder rewarded Williams for his development with a three-year, $24 million contract extension a week later. For outsiders, to see somebody who only played 14 minutes in the NBA Finals was a little puzzling. But anybody who followed the NBA champion understands his value. Sam Presti told two stories in his 2024-25 end-of-season press conference about Williams. You usually don't get such in-depth answers about a team's third-string center, but the 23-year-old's affectionate personality refuses to pigeonhole him in such a micro-role. The first involved a morning shootaround. The Thunder were set to face the Philadelphia 76ers. They typically hold their shootarounds at the opposition's arena when on the road. That meant they went to Wells Fargo Center a few hours before tip. Presti noted that Williams kept the mood upbeat. He fought against the elements as the indoor temperature rivaled the outside. Which is quite a statement considering how cold it can get in Philly. He helped his teammates forget about the freezing temperature. "I just think he's a unique guy," Presti said about Williams. "He's a source of energy." The other story was the one that stuck out to most. Presti wind the clock back to November. After suffering a hip fracture that cost him three months, Chet Holmgren slammed his hand in frustration and pain. As most know, the 23-year-old took a while to get up. Once you realized Holmgren couldn't get off the floor without help, everybody in the arena went as quiet as a funeral. The lasting image of the seven-footer's injury was being helped off the floor by Isaiah Hartenstein and Williams. In a sick twist of irony, they were both also out dealing with their own injuries. Hartenstein with a hand fracture and Williams with a hamstring strain. While the public saw the beginnings of that group's time together, Presti revealed more details on how Hartenstein and Williams stayed by Holmgren's side inside the tunnels and away from the cameras during another career low point. "In all my years doing this, I've never, ever seen a player in that much pain. I mean, it was really tough. Hart and J-Will stayed with him the whole time in the back, and it was uncomfortable," Presti said. "It was uncomfortable because when someone is in that much pain, it's hard to be a bystander." Presti said Holmgren couldn't even sit down properly because of the amount of pain he was in. A hip fracture is about as bad as it gets. Any 9th-grade biology class will teach that to you. Hartenstein and Williams stayed by his side until he eventually left the arena to go to the hospital. "Those guys were both injured at the time. It was the greatest act of team support and teammate support I had ever seen. I don't know that it will ever be matched," Presti said. "They sat with him. They supported him." Despite a shakiness in his role, Williams remains a positive force on the Thunder. Those are the type of intangibles you can't see. As cheesy as it might be to outsiders, the 23-year-old's warm energy helped OKC win off the court, too.
