Stephen A. Smith believes that the Oklahoma City Thunder organization's lack of success over the last 17 years is due to general manager Sam Presti, who he feels has had no achievements to show for his efforts despite the resources allotted to him to win throughout the years.
"He doesn't have one single championship to show for it. He's gone to the finals in 2012, but outside of that, that's it. Over the years, he's had Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Serge Ibaka, Reggie Jackson, Paul George, Carmelo Anthony, Victor Oladipo. He's had all these players, and somehow, somehow, he's never won a championship," he said in the most recent episode of the "Stephen A. Smith Show."
Presti, who was crowned with this season's Executive of the Year award, has notably been known over the years as the executive who has hoarded enough picks and assets for decades to come. Currently, OKC has approximately 11 first-round picks through 2030, including five alone in 2025. No team in the league has more assets than the Thunder.
But with the strategy of hoarding picks and assets comes a lot of criticism directed at Presti about his roster-building skills over the years. Smith pointed out that other general managers have accomplished more, including a championship, with less to work with, while Presti hasn't, because it seems the roster he builds has flaws each and every year.
"When you ask the kind of questions about coaching strategy, I'm saying, I have no choice but to look at that historically about that franchise when it comes to Sam Presti, because we certainly never were able to look at their roster and say they didn't have enough to win. We've been able to look at their roster on many occasions since 2011 and said, you know what, they can win it all, and it never happens," Smith added.
This season's Thunder roster is by far the best-performing one, at least since the Durant and Westbrook era. Not only did they have the best record in the league (68-14), but they dominated the Western Conference with a winning percentage of 82.9 through 82 games.
That makes them one of the best regular-season teams in NBA history. While that's a major accomplishment for Presti and the organization, it means less if they don't win a championship in June.
Smith brought up this topic because, once again, the Thunder seem to be crumbling down thus far in the semifinals against the Denver Nuggets . Similar to last season, OKC looks beatable, but not the team that they presented themselves as in the regular season. One reason is that they don't have enough firepower in the playoffs to make them the unbeatable team that they're supposed to be.
Maybe that's because they're a young and inexperienced team, but like what Smith implied, at what point does this continue to be an excuse? When will the organization finally get over the hump? Suppose the Thunder are once again headed to another second-round exit. In that case, it's time for the reigning Executive of the Year awardee to receive a fair share of the blame.
