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With the Oklahoma City Thunder entering the 2025 NBA Finals as favorites over the Indiana Pacers, could Thunder GM Sam Presti be on the verge of wrapping his 18-year tenure with an NBA title? As the Executive of the Year, it wouldn’t be an awful way to close out this chapter of his career. Four wins away from the franchise’s first championship, head coach Mark Daigneault recognized his relationship with Presti as a catalyst to his success.
It’s no question Presti would be leaving his team in good hands with Daigneault leading a promising championship-contending core with dynastic potential and a front office with a boatload of assets that include 10 first-round picks in five years. An NBA title could turn out to be Presti’s swan song, per The Athletic’s John Hollinger.
“You might wonder, after two decades in the same place, if finally winning a championship might spur Presti to ride off into the sunset, Bob Myers-style,” Hollinger said. “Nobody I talked to can envision this happening. Behind the designer glasses is a ruthless competitor whose reaction to beating you four times in a row is to try to beat you even worse the fifth time.”
Nearly two decades at the helm, Presti’s impressive quick rebuild of one championship-contending team to another with the Thunder materialized an MVP in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, a third-year All-NBA forward in Jalen Williams, and a promising seven-footer in Chet Holmgren. It’s as organic a modern-day “Big 3” a franchise can dream of in today’s CBA, entering its first NBA Finals facing the Indiana Pacers.
However, with the CBA’s second-apron and the obstacles that come with it standing around the corner from when the Thunder front office will have to make very difficult decisions after next season, it’d be shocking to see Presti walk away from a franchise in its beginning stages of a potential dynasty.
Mark Daigneault on relationship with Thunder GM Sam Presti
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Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault revealed how his relationship with Thunder GM Sam Presti influenced his teateam’s run to the NBA Finals. Daigneault points to their longstanding relationship, as Mark’s young coaching career blossomed under the franchise’s umbrella, progressing from G League head coach to assistant and then to head coach.
“When I started as the head coach, I already had six years in the organization. So, that’s a six-plus-year relationship that we already had,” Daigneault said. “He knew me very well. I knew him very well. We had seen each other over the course of a long period of time in a lot of different situations. So, there wasn’t a relational feeling out process there.”
Daigneault will make his NBA Finals debut in Game 1 against the Pacers on Thursday.
