OKLAHOMA CITY – Sam Presti doesn’t believe the Oklahoma City Thunder arrived at this point because of one decision.
There wasn’t one trade, one draft pick, one contract or one moment that suddenly turned the organization into a championship contender. Instead, the Thunder have spent years making small decisions that eventually became much bigger ones.
That was the message Presti delivered Thursday during his annual preseason press conference, and perhaps nothing summed up his philosophy better than one line.
“I think the theme of the day is small decisions that were made years in advance that lead to very big culminations of opportunity.”
That idea is important when looking at where the Thunder are now.
Oklahoma City is entering the 2026-27 season with a roster that looks considerably different from the group that won the championship a couple of seasons ago and followed that up with a 64-win season. More than 10,000 minutes from the previous two seasons have been lost through the departures of Lu Dort, Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe, among others.
There are new players. There are younger players being asked to do more. There are veterans taking on different responsibilities. And there are still plenty of unanswered questions.
But Presti doesn’t view those changes as something that automatically takes the Thunder backward. If anything, they are another part of the same long-term process.
The Thunder have spent years building an organization that can withstand change because the goal was never simply to put together one good team. It was to create an environment where decisions made years earlier could eventually create opportunities that weren’t exactly obvious at the time.
That philosophy can be seen throughout the current roster.
Oklahoma City drafted such as Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams at different points in the organization’s timeline. They developed players who arrived as second-round picks or relatively unproven prospects. They gave players opportunities before knowing exactly what their eventual roles would become.
Now, the Thunder are doing it again.
Jared McCain is one of the clearest examples.
McCain arrived in Oklahoma City last season and had to learn how to play within a team that already had an established identity. This year, he enters training camp with a better understanding of the organization, more familiarity with his teammates and an opportunity to show more of what he can do.
Presti talked about McCain’s confidence and self-awareness, but also about his ability to understand how he fits into something bigger than himself.
“He had the emotional intelligence, in my opinion, to walk into our environment and navigate that but also still play with confidence. I think that’s a really unique thing,” Presti said.
“One of the most underrated aspects of a player in the modern NBA, in my opinion, is their self-awareness as a player, not just as a person. But a self-aware player is essential to a mid-season acquisition or really any acquisition of a team that’s been together for a while. Jared [McCain] has that in an overflowing amount.”
And all of that matters because the Thunder aren’t simply looking for someone to replace a player who left. They are trying to find out what McCain can become.
The same can be said for Ajay Mitchell.
Mitchell became an important contributor during the playoffs, giving the organization another piece to evaluate going forward. Now he has the opportunity to build on that experience and potentially expand his role.
Those opportunities don’t happen by accident.
They are the result of years of drafting, developing and creating an environment where players can grow into roles that may not have been available to them when they first arrived.
Presti made it clear that the Thunder also aren’t entering this season with everything predetermined.
“Take a beginner’s mindset to every season,” Presti said when noting the orginizations fundamentals.
That approach could be especially important with Chet Holmgren.
Holmgren has already accomplished plenty in his young career. He made his first All-Star team last season, earned All-NBA recognition and finished second in Defensive Player of the Year voting. But the Thunder aren’t treating that as the finished product.
The addition of Aday Mara and the return of Thomas Sorber give Oklahoma City more size, which could allow Holmgren to spend more time at different positions and play alongside another big depending on the matchup.
Again, it’s another opportunity created by a collection of decisions made over time.
The same patience will be necessary with Nikola Topic and Sorber. Both players have missed significant time, and getting them back on the court is about more than simply receiving medical clearance.
They have to get comfortable playing live basketball again. They have to rebuild their rhythm. They have to experience the physicality of NBA competition. That could require patience, even for a team with championship expectations.
And that is another reason Presti doesn’t want to walk into the season believing he already knows exactly what the Thunder will look like.
“We’re pursuing progress, we’re not pursuing outcomes,” Presti said.
“We’ve said the same things when we were winning 23 games as we were when we were winning 68 games. We don’t know how many games we’re going to win this year. We’re not entitled to anything.”
That doesn’t mean winning isn’t important. It means Oklahoma City understands that development, experimentation and winning don’t always move in a perfectly straight line.
The Thunder could use more players than some teams. They could experiment with different lineups. They could give younger players opportunities that might come with mistakes.
Those decisions could become important later.
That has essentially been the Thunder’s model for years. Make the decision that makes sense now, even if its ultimate payoff isn’t immediately visible.
The financial side of the organization is another example.
As Oklahoma City moves toward larger contracts for their young core, the second apron and the financial consequences of operating at that level will continue to matter.
But Presti didn’t frame the situation as simply reaching a point where the organization has to choose between keeping their core together or breaking it apart.
The financial decisions will come as the team learns more about itself.
And that is another recurring theme from Presti.
The Thunder don’t need to know every answer today. They need to continue making good decisions.
That philosophy extends beyond basketball, too.
Presti spoke about the importance of the players being connected to Oklahoma City and making themselves available in the community. He pointed to the impact players can have through relationships and seemingly small interactions, including the way Shai Gilgeous-Alexander connects with young fans before games and Isaiah Hartenstein’s involvement with the Oklahoma City National Memorial.
Those moments may not show up in a box score but they can become part of what the organization represents over time. And that’s really what Presti’s comments about small decisions were getting at.
The Thunder didn’t become what or who they are because of one giant swing. They got here through hundreds of decisions made over years.
Some involved players, some involved development, some involved contracts, some involved culture, and some probably seemed insignificant at the time. But eventually, those decisions created something much bigger.
Now Oklahoma City has another opportunity in front of them.
The roster has changed. The challenges have changed. The expectations have changed.
But the process hasn’t.
The Thunder still have to figure out which players earn minutes, which combinations work, how quickly their young players develop and what this version of the team can become.
Presti doesn’t appear interested in forcing those answers before the season gives him enough information.
That’s because the organization has never really been about one moment.
It has been about preparing for the next one.
And after years of making small decisions, the Thunder are once again in a position where those decisions could lead to something much bigger.
