Sam Presti Is Telling Kevin Durant To Stay

Sam Presti was one of a few general managers without a draft pick, yet the trade with the Orlando Magic on draft day says to Kevin Durant that he is serious about his superstar staying and winning a championship.

Oklahoma City Thunder general manager Sam Presti has made a move which could safeguard basketball in OKC for a number of seasons. In one move, he has changed the thinking of the team about the potential loss of players next year.

Serge Ibaka has been a tremendous servant to the Oklahoma City Thunder basketball team for the last seven years. Ibaka is the Sonics’/Thunder’s all time blocks leader with 1,300, which equates to 45th all time in the NBA.

Ibaka is a top defender in the league who has been struggling to find his place in the Billy Donovan system.

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One of the main problems for Ibaka was not system-related, however. It was contractual. This season Kevin Durant is an unrestricted free agent, next season Russell Westbrook is also an unrestricted free agent, as is Ibaka.

Presti surely has a huge concern that he will lose one, two or all three of these players.

With Presti trading Ibaka, he has said a number of things. Firstly he is telling Kevin Durant that he is looking for the now as well as the future. With Durant being unrestricted this year and Westbrook, Steven Adams, Ibaka and Andre Roberson being free agents next year, Presti is trying to retain as many pieces as possible.

There is no way that he would have been able to pay all of his starters what they are worth. In sending Ibaka to the Orlando Magic, he has gained a missing piece of the puzzle. Oladipo is an excellent shooting guard who scored 16.0 points per game last season. The other numbers that I love for Oladipo are the 4.8 rebounds, the 3.9 assists and the 1.6 steals per game.

Oklahoma City now has one of the most lethal backcourts in the game. Roberson can come on as a specialist defender and Anthony Morrow can come on as a marksman as required. Randy Foye can find another team.

Oladipo also adds something to the Thunder that they have struggled with for a while now: defense of the three-point line.

The second part of the trade that I like is the now and future part of it at power forward.

The now is Ersan Ilyasova, who is a serviceable power forward. As the starting power forward for the Detroit Pistons lat year, he averaged 11.3 points per game and 5.4 rebounds per game.

As a backup for the Magic he averaged 8.1 points per game and 5.5 rebounds per game. Ibaka averaged 12.6 points and 5.0 rebounds per game.

Ilyasova also has a good outside stroke, hitting 36 percent of his outside shots for the Detroit Pistons and 42 percent for Orlando. This is compared to 33 percent for Ibaka.

The main point of difference is obviously the level of defense. Ilyasova will give a decent account of himself but Domantas Sabonis is the real winner for the Oklahoma City Thunder. He comes into the league with a reasonable pedigree on defense which will be on display a little bit next year.

The future and real value of Sabonis is that his rookie scale contract will not affect the team nearly as much as Ibaka’s contract would have. Ilyasova will either be cut after next season or signed to a smaller contract. Oladipo will be pursued by many NBA teams but will be offered good money to stay with a potential championship team. Westbrook will be offered the world to stay.

This only leaves the ever improving Adams from next year’s starting five. I believe that Presti will offer Adams money before the contract deadline to extend his current offer to stay in Oklahoma City. Trading away Ibaka has told me that both Presti and Donovan believe that Adams is growing so much that he was the leader of the defense, not Ibaka.

We will all remember this defensive effort to get Oklahoma City over the line against the San Antonio Spurs in Game 2 of the Western Conference semifinals.

So next year, instead of having to re-sign his entire starting five, he is starting the process early. Don’t be surprised to see Durant as the proud owner of a max five-year deal, Waiters with a two-year deal and Adams with a four-year deal.

Then, all Presto has to do next year is re-sign Westbrook, Oladipo and Roberson. That is a much more pleasant situation to be in. It will also tell Durant that Presti is trying to build stability, which is how you win championships.

If Westbrook decides to go elsewhere, Presti has the added benefit of Oladipo, who can play point and Cameron Payne, last year’s Thunder rookie whose play is only going to develop this year.

More hoops habit: 2017 NBA Mock Draft: An Early Look Ahead

Presti has made another smart choice on draft day, one that may take Oklahoma City to the title next year.

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