Sam Presti reveals little in comments on Kevin Durant's free agency
Thunder general manager thinks the team has an "incredibly bright future" if Durant stays
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3 min read
Oklahoma City Thunder general manager Sam Presti met the media for his end-of-season press conference on Monday and addressed star forward Kevin Durant's impending free agency. Presti did not say much about how he planned to pitch Durant, nor did he directly answer a question about how concerned he is that Durant might leave.
From The Oklahoman's Anthony Slater:
"I think the way you've got to look at that is when we signed Kevin to his extension five years ago, we knew that he'd be a free agent at the end of that contract. And we've done, I think, a really good job of just focusing on the things that we can control.
"I also think Kevin deserves a tremendous amount of credit for the way he's handled his affairs, because what it really did was it allowed our team to focus on the season and really made the season we had possible.
"I thought it was a tremendous example of a franchise player putting the franchise first. I thought it was also a tremendous example of leadership on his part, because we're not able to have that season unless he's handling his affairs the way that he did, and we'll -- I think first thing is we've got to give it some time after the season ends for a couple reasons: One, to reflect and enjoy and appreciate the season that we just had so that we're not just rushing on to the next thing. We can't make that decision come faster or slow it down, so we may as well enjoy the season we just had and allow him to do the same. And then when it's time, we'll sit down and have that conversation with him, and at that point we'll know where we stand."
Presti added that he didn't want to make this process "too complex," as the franchise has had a relationship with Durant for all nine of his seasons in the NBA. He called Durant "a really wise person," and said that plans have not yet been made to show up at his doorstep at midnight ET on July 1.
More from The Oklahoman:
"The actual conversation and things of that nature, that'll take its place naturally. Again, like we've been with this player for quite a while, and the way I personally choose to look at it is we've got to take a step back and realize how incredible, how fortunate are we that Kevin Durant has been one of the first players to ever wear a Thunder uniform. He's played for eight years in Oklahoma City. Kids that were six years old watching the Thunder and now 14 years old, and they've watched this evolution of Westbrook, Durant, Ibaka and company through their adolescence, and now we have the opportunity to sit down with him and talk about what looks like an incredibly bright future together. I think you have to embrace that. You have to really lean into that in an excited way without knowing what the outcome might be. But I don't see any reason to shy away from that.
"I think we should be really excited about recognizing the relationship, and as I said before, it's a continuation of a dialogue that's been going on for eight, nine years, and it's an opportunity to talk about what the future might hold for us together."
You can't really take issue with anything Presti said. Indeed, Durant handled all the questions about his future as well as you can. It is true that the Thunder are lucky to have had him in the fold for this long, and it is smart to give him some time to figure things out. Oklahoma City's message to him should be pretty simple, especially after coming so close to knocking off the Golden State Warriors: the Thunder are championship contenders with him, and they have an opportunity to keep improving. If that's not enough for Durant, there is not much Presti can do.
It's difficult, though, to take much of anything away from this media session. This is the biggest offseason in Oklahoma City history, but you wouldn't have known it from Presti's comments. If you're a Thunder fan, you might read this as a quiet confidence, but he did his best to reveal as little as possible.
