How Thunder found their way back to contender status

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder appear capable of continuing to compete for championships.

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This, as you may recall, has happened before. The Oklahoma City Thunder grew organically, developed into a contender primarily through draft fertilizer, and quickly became a basketball heavyweight.

It was a study in vision, patience, development and young potential, and the process put the rest of the NBA on notice. The Thunder’s meticulous blueprint was studied and envied…until it wasn’t.

That was a dozen years ago and the inability to make money from a championship was humiliating. Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden — all future Kia MVP winners, all in their 20s — never drank champagne together in their NBA birthplace. All those rosy predictions of an OKC dynasty? They died badly.

That doesn’t mean OKC’s first attempt at creating a Goliath from scratch was a failure. The franchise remained a winner for years.

Once again, OKC boasts what you see now: a bloated team with an MVP contender, several young talents, a manageable salary cap and a treasure trove of draft capital.

Given all of this, OKC is currently in better shape than most, if not all, of its 29 competitors.

As the Thunder prepare to meet the Spurs, their Tuesday game takes place (9:30 p.m. ET, TNT) is curious in this regard: at some point in their history, both received great praise for their team building.

The big difference is that the Spurs have produced five championships. Oklahoma City is still waiting for the first.

It’s no coincidence that the connection between the two is Sam Presti, a masterful connoisseur of talent and asset management. The OKC general manager’s ability to overcome modern roster-building challenges was first developed in the Spurs’ organization, where he started at the bottom – as an intern, then as a video coordinator and then as a scout. His rise coincided with Spurs’ championship run in the mid-2000s.

The year before the Seattle SuperSonics moved to OKC in 2008, Presti was hired at age 29 and given full control. Since then, he built a small market team, made several franchise-changing personnel decisions and did everything but win a championship.

Until the Thunder get a big win with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren and others, their deal isn’t done.

Oklahoma City and Presti have time on their side as the Thunder are just beginning their latest attempt at sustained greatness. OKC opened the season with the youngest roster in the league (24.1 years old). Last season they were the league’s youngest No. 1 team in history and OKC is once again lurking at the top of the Western Conference.

OKC’s process in building a winner

During his preseason press conference, Presti was both measured and optimistic about 2024-25:

“There are no silver platters in Oklahoma. But I would say anything is possible,” Presti said. “It just can’t be expected… we as an organization and as a team have to earn our success.”

And as far as the composition of the team is concerned:

“We’re trying to be the exception to an age-old rule in sport that you can’t win with young players at the highest level. We are aware that to be part of this team you have to be willing to be an exception.”

OKC tried to be an exception with Durant, Westbrook, Harden and Serge Ibaka (a good rebounder and defender). The Thunder reached the finals in 2011, losing 4-1 in that series and never returning.

What happened next was somewhat understandable: OKC either couldn’t pay everyone…or refused to. A year later, Harden was shipped to Houston. While Durant and Westbrook received hefty extensions and reached four West Finals in six years – injuries struck in the two years they didn’t make it – Durant ultimately left in free agency and Westbrook was traded.

“I’m not embarrassed to say we didn’t make it,” Presti said. “I’m proud to say we’ve been in the fight and in the arena every year.”

Basketball scholars will think about this one day and wonder why and how a dynasty never happened. But while such an experience could cripple most franchises, Presti never left OKC on the rocks during OKC’s reinvention. In the five years since Westbrook’s departure, they have only had two seasons with fewer than 40 wins.

Here’s why the Thunder are back among the contenders:

• The Paul George trade. Knowing the Clippers needed George after signing Kawhi Leonard, Presti had a rare level of influence that he took advantage of. He dismantled a 49-win Thunder team because LA gave up a haul: Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari, five first-rounders and two pick swaps. OKC was fortunate that Gilgeous-Alexander, last season’s MVP runner-up, performed better than anyone imagined.

• The Westbrook trade. The summer of 2019 wasn’t just about the George trade. It was also the right time to part ways with Westbrook, and once again Presti maximized the situation by acquiring Chris Paul, two first-round picks and two pick swaps from the Rockets to start a rebuild.

• The Chris Paul trade. Everyone knew that Paul was hired at short notice, partly because he wanted to work for a competitor at this point in his career. After a surprisingly good 44-win season, Presti sent him to Phoenix for a package that included a 2022 first-round pick. A bonus: Paul has been a good mentor to Gilgeous-Alexander this season.

• The 2022 draft. OKC was fortunate to draft No. 1 in a draft that produced two franchise players in Paolo Banchero (who went No. 1 to the Orlando Magic) and Holmgren. But there’s more: Presti used a Clippers pick on Jalen Williams, who made the All-Rookie First Team and is a cornerstone prospect.

Still open: The 2024 offseason, with Isaiah Hartenstein and Alex Caruso.

“We’re going to need some time with this group,” Presti said. “Our continuity won’t be great at the start. I don’t think it will be a problem once we’ve covered a few miles… We’ve always seen ourselves as a work in progress. I hope that doesn’t change.

“I think there is a difference between selecting players and selecting a team. I like the way the team was selected.”

“Ambitious, but without an agenda”

Building teams has always been difficult as salary caps and free agency rules evolved. It is undoubtedly tougher than before, with aprons, luxury tax and other hurdles.

Here are a handful of post-1980 teams that have been praised for their methods:

• Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers, 1980s. They dominated the decade (eight titles) because their front offices were the best in the business. Red Auerbach and Jerry West drafted game-changing players: Magic Johnson and Larry Bird. But to surround these greats required vision and wisdom. Auerbach was traded for Kevin McHale and Robert Parish to form the greatest front line in history. West recruited James Worthy and Michael Cooper to form the “Showtime”-era team.

• Chicago Bulls, 1990s. Did Jerry Krause get more criticism for breaking up a dynasty than credit for building it? He inherited Michael Jordan, but provided help: Scottie Pippen and Horace Grant arrived in the 1987 draft and Dennis Rodman in free agency. Oh, and he hired Phil Jackson from the minor leagues.

• Phoenix Suns, 1990s. A former Golden Gloves boxer from Chicago named Jerry Colangelo came to Phoenix and, with his deft touch, brought forth a decade of excitement and hope. He traded for Kevin Johnson, signed Dan Majerle, added Danny Ainge and Tom Chambers, and then traded other assets to land the centerpiece – prime Charles Barkley. The Suns lost the 1993 NBA Finals to Jordan at their peak.

• San Antonio Spurs, 2000s. Before the Spurs were good, they got lucky and landed Tim Duncan No. 1 in a draft. Then the front office led by RC Buford – who hired Presti – became the gold standard by drafting Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Kawhi Leonard and over the years added such key role players as Bruce Bowen, Patty Mills, Danny Green, Steve Kerr and others.

• Golden State Warriors, 2010s. This generation probably believes that the Warriors have always been winners. Barely. Aside from Run-TMC and the We Believers – both flashes in the pan – this franchise was on the rocks for decades after the 1975 championship. Then former GM Larry Riley drafted Stephen Curry. Additional designs came from Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. Andre Iguodala arrived in free agency and a dynasty followed.

The NBA has had a different champion over the past six seasons, largely due to new cap rules and the difficulty of assembling a Big 3 — or even keeping key players from chasing money (see the Denver Nuggets since 2023). What will help OKC avoid this is having multiple future first-round picks and swaps that can be used to get players on rookie contracts.

On the current roster, Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 28.5 points and Williams is averaging 20.8 ppg. There is plenty of depth with Caruso and Lu Dort leading the defense. The lack of rebounding will remain a glaring problem until Holmgren (hip) and Hartenstein (hand) return from their injuries.

Presti described such a young group as largely selfless, “ambitious but without an agenda.” If we can maintain that, we can be a very good team for a very long time.”

That’s the key: If a team has multiple chances to compete for the championship, there’s a good chance they’ll win at least one.

“We all want to be part of something that can last over time,” Presti said. “We are not running away from expectations. Whatever we want is possible.”

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Shaun Powell has been covering the NBA for more than 25 years. You can email him here, his archive can be found here and Follow him on X.

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