Sam Presti Reveals Mid-Season Trade Philosophy

The Oklahoma City Thunder made a mid-season swap a year ago that was presented with plenty of push back and Sam Presti revealed his thought process behind it.

May 13, 2024; Dallas, Texas, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Gordon Hayward (33) warms up before the game between the Dallas Mavericks and the Oklahoma City Thunder in game four of the second round for the 2024 NBA playoffs at American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images / Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

A year ago the hottest discussion point around the Oklahoma City Thunder was how they would handle the NBA Trade Deadline - starring down the barrel of a season that changed the team's external expectations, many waited for the Thunder to make a "win-now" move.

In February, the Thunder added Gordon Hayward in a multi-layered deal that gave Oklahoma City a win-now veteran to bolster the experience level on the young spunky squad while also cleaned up their cap sheet to eventually add Isaiah Hartenstein in free agency.

That move, on the floor, did not go as expected which had top executive Sam Presti spending the summer re-evaluating his philosophy on mid-season swaps as a whole.

"I mean, I'm not going to violate my rule of, like, got to stay open. But I do think that we did -- like I said last year, we learned that it's a different team to join mid-year for sure. Partly play style, partly the development of our players, because the team is so young, that the team is changing every five to ten games," The Thunder executive explained.

While many view the league through the lens of NBA 2K MyGM mode, there is nuances and layers to these moves that can not be quantified in the trade machine.

"I think the other thing about that is we've got to be careful about seeing every road bump or regression as an opportunity to hit the trade builder. I think external solutions always bring with them a lot of risk to the existing team that you have," Presti said.

While those risks are at times worth the reward, often times it ends up backfiring or at least not bearing the intended fruits of the move. In fact, at times it can hold a franchise back.

"That's why I think when people -- everyone tends to, when there's a team that's in regression or plateau period or whatever you want to call it, the default is, like, hit the trade builder, because to really have a very nuanced conversation about the other things, the internal things, I think that gets a little hard for people, because there's a lot more gray area there and probably a little more -- like a little more expertise on that, to be speaking that language, rather than hit the builder and flip people in and out, But every time you do that, you're adding risk to your existing team." Presti opined.

While you can never say never, the safe assumption is the Thunder roster will look similar on the opening night of the regular season and postseason this year.

"Not that we're not, but I think we have to look down the line and go, we're always going to have to see if there's alternatives internally first. There are usually things to try. But ultimately, you're going to have to do some things externally, and we ultimately decided to do that this summer," Presti said.

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