The Oklahoma City Thunder are about to kick off a new season, and Sam Presti’s preseason press conference on Thursday, Sept. 24 should be one of the biggest checkpoints of the year.
It comes after an eventful summer for the Thunder, who moved on from several longtime role players and got their first real look at the NBA’s hard-cap rules. Now the organization is trying to reshape its supporting cast while keeping its title window wide open.
That window is still very much built around Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams. With that trio leading the way, OKC remains firmly in the championship conversation as long as health cooperates.
But Presti still has some major questions waiting for him when he steps to the microphone.
The biggest one might be Cason Wallace. He put together a breakout season and earned All-Defense honors for the first time, and with Lu Dort gone, he’s expected to slide into a full-time starting role. Even with that bigger job ahead, Wallace still doesn’t have a contract extension.
He has been eligible for a new deal all summer, but nothing has happened yet. The Thunder have until Oct. 19 to sort it out before Wallace would play the season out and head toward restricted free agency next offseason. If there’s movement, it may not come until the last possible moment.
Presti will also have to explain the team’s cost-cutting approach. For the first time with this core, Oklahoma City had to deal with the ugly side of roster building in the modern NBA. The second apron and heavier tax penalties have pushed teams into tough decisions across the league, and the Thunder felt that pressure this summer.
Dort, Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins were all traded out East, bringing back seven future second-round picks. The moves also saved OKC’s ownership group a significant amount of money and delayed a second-apron season. That kind of business reality is part of being a contender now, even if fans don’t want to hear about the savings.
Then there’s Russell Westbrook. One of the defining stars of the 2010s announced his retirement after 18 seasons, and the Thunder’s all-time connection to him runs deep. He spent 11 seasons in Oklahoma City, and his most successful stretch came there.
The team already put out a tribute on social media, and Presti issued a poetic statement after the announcement. Still, that’s unlikely to be the end of it. He should be asked how the franchise plans to honor one of its greatest players, with possibilities like a jersey retirement or statue hanging in the air.
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Victor Wembanyama posted a plus-17.0 net rating and finished second among rotation players, yet Caruso still pushed past him on the seasons broader impact board. For Oklahoma City, that kind of company matters, because it speaks to a roster whose influence stretches well beyond the headline names and into the sort of role-player production that can tilt games long before the final score settles. [Read more 🡒]
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Even with the sting of his exit to Golden State never fully fading, the argument for his No. 35 to hang in the rafters is rooted in what he meant to the Thunder on the floor and in the leagues eyes. What makes the conversation linger is the tension between legacy and departure, and whether a player can leave under harsh circumstances and still be honored for doing so much to define a franchises early years. [Read more 🡒]
Kevin Durant Just Got Pulled Back Into A Bitter Thunder Feud
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For Thunder fans, the exchange carried an extra edge because it revived old feelings around Durants exit and the way his legacy still gets pulled into arguments long after he moved on. Kanter Freedom did more than disagree with the opinion, adding personal heat to the back-and-forth and turning a policy dispute into another reminder of how easily Durant can still end up at the center of an Oklahoma City grievance. [Read more 🡒]