Oklahoma City Thunder

Oklahoma City Thunder general manager Sam Presti spoke positively of Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant when asked about the former OKC forward Thursday.

According to ESPN's Royce Young, Presti said: "If there is anything Kevin Durant ever, ever needed from me or anyone here, it would be a moment's notice for that to happen. ... I have nothing but positive things to say about his tenure here."

Young's comments came after Durant made some disparaging remarks about Oklahoma City and the Thunder franchise in an interview with J.R. Moehringer of WSJ Magazine earlier this month.

Durant told Moehringer he'll "never be attached to that city again" because of the way Oklahoma City fans treated him after he signed with the Golden State Warriors in 2016.

He also suggested those within the Thunder organization turned their backs on him after he left:

"Such a venomous toxic feeling when I walked into that arena. And just the organization, the trainers, and equipment managers, those dudes is pissed off at me? Ain't talking to me? I'm like 'Yo, this is where we going with this? Because I left a team and went to play with another team? ...

"I eventually wanted to come back to that city and be part of that community and organization, but I don't trust nobody there. That s--t must have been fake, what they was doing. The organization, the GM, I ain't talked to none of those people, even had a nice exchange with those people, since I left."

There was clearly no love lost for Durant in OKC after he left, especially during the 2016-17 season, as he was booed loudly upon his return to the city.

Even so, the decision to sign with the Warriors paid dividends for Durant, as he reached the NBA Finals in all three seasons with the team and won two championships and two NBA Finals MVP Awards.

His tenure in Golden State didn't end ideally, as a torn Achilles knocked him out of the 2019 NBA Finals, but there is seemingly a greater sense of appreciation for Durant among Warriors fans than Thunder fans despite the fact that he left Golden State as well and signed with Brooklyn during the offseason.

The fact that Durant signed with the Warriors shortly after they eliminated the Thunder in the 2016 Western Conference Finals may have played a role in how upset the OKC fanbase was. As well, KD was never able to deliver a championship to Oklahoma City.

The Thunder are without a title since moving to OKC from Seattle in 2008. After trading both Paul George and Russell Westbrook during the offseason, they seem poised to enter a rebuild that could preclude them from playoff contention over the next few years.

Meanwhile, Durant will look to bring the Nets their first championship in Brooklyn once he recovers from his Achilles injury.

The Oklahoma City Thunder had a transformative summer, trading Paul George to the Los Angeles Clippers and Russell Westbrook to the Houston Rockets in blockbuster deals that changed the landscape of the NBA.

And while head coach Billy Donovan is trying to roll with the punches, he admitted that George's trade request to the Clippers surprised him, per Berry Tramel of The Oklahoman:

"I was taken back, because... I think Paul enjoyed his time here. I do think when he first came here, there was a lot of speculation. 'This is only going to be a one-year experiment and then he's going to want to get back to LA.' Paul's obviously got a lot of ties and affinity for LA and where he's from. I get that part of it. I get that part for his family. His mom and dad are great people. Yeah, It catches you."

The story of how George ended up with the Clippers started with Kawhi Leonard, who told the Clippers he wanted a second superstar to play with if he signed with them over the summer. Leonard first tried to recruit Kevin Durant, per Ramona Shelburne of ESPN, though KD signed with the Brooklyn Nets.

So Leonard put the full-court press on George, convincing him to request a trade and convincing the Clippers to make one with Oklahoma City.

Shelburne noted at the time that it wasn't an easy decision for George to request a trade "considering the way the franchise had treated him in the two seasons he'd played there and the bonds that he'd formed." But George "felt like it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, to play at home in L.A. alongside a generational talent like Leonard."

To general manager Sam Presti's credit, he got an enormous haul in exchange for George once he relented to trading him. The Thunder landed Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari, four unprotected first-round picks (2021 via Miami, 2022, 2024 and 2026), a 2023 protected first-rounder via Miami and pick-swap rights in 2023 and 2025.

Of course, OKC's summer of change wasn't done there. With George gone and the Thunder clearly eyeing the future, superstar point guard Russell Westbrook began talks with the Thunder regarding his future and the possibility of a trade.

Soon enough, that materialized as well—Westbrook was traded to the Houston Rockets in exchange for Chris Paul, protected first-round picks (1-4) in 2024 and 2026 and pick-swap rights in 2021 and 2025. Suddenly, the Thunder were rife with future draft assets, though the team's identity in the near-term is cloudy.

Will they try to compete behind veterans like Paul, Gallinari and Steven Adams? Or will they eventually move on from them too in an effort to hand the keys to Gilgeous-Alexander? Of course, moving on from Paul's contract will be easier said than done otherwise he likely would have been dealt by now. 

But regardless, Donovan will head into the 2019-20 season with an entirely new roster on his hands and a team with dramatically different expectations from a year ago. The Westbrook-George pairing never quite reached the heights they would have hoped for—in two seasons, they never reached 50 wins or won a playoff series—but that partnership coming to such an abrupt halt nonetheless sent shockwaves around the NBA.

Now it's up to Donovan to figure out the Thunder's on-court identity going forward.

Anyone in the market for a mansion in Houston with a listed selling price of $8.3 million now has someone to call—Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Chris Paul. 

According to Claudine Zap of Realtor.com, Paul is selling the five-bedroom and 6.5-bathroom mansion he bought in April 2018. The Houston Rockets traded Paul to the Thunder this offseason as part of the deal that brought them Russell Westbrook, and it doesn't look like the nine-time All-Star is keeping his home in Texas much longer.

Zap noted the mansion is 10,000 square feet and described as "picturesque modernism partnered with Old World Mediterranean."

Among the features are a courtyard, koi pond, 750-bottle wine case, a library, limestone-edge pool, fire pit, pool house, study, game room and home theatre.

Mansion Global shared a look at the outside of the house:

NBA Star Chris Paul Lists Houston House for $8.3 Millionhttps://t.co/808iLdjX18 pic.twitter.com/KJYzCAFFQO

— Mansion Global (@MansionGlobal) August 27, 2019

Paul will be tasked with leading the Thunder in the daunting Western Conference this season without Westbrook or Paul George, but first, he has to find someone who needs a house that can store 750 bottles of wine and a theatre all in one.

The Oklahoma City Thunder will have a drastically new look when they take the floor for the 2019-20 season, and one of their new pieces wants to assert that different could be good. 

"I am not Russell Westbrook," Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who came to Oklahoma City as part of the trade package that netted the Los Angeles Clippers Paul George, told reporters. "We don't have the same name, the same body type, nothing like that. So I'm going to try to be myself and be the best me, and everything else will take care of itself."

Holding Gilgeous-Alexander to Westbrook's standard wouldn't be fair, seeing as the latter was the face of the franchise for a decade and averaged a triple-double in each of the last three seasons.

Westbrook departed the Thunder in the aftermath of George joining the Clippers. Oklahoma City traded the 2016-17 league MVP to the Houston Rockets, where he'll reunite with former Thunder teammate James Harden. 

As a result, Oklahoma City has been thrust into a rebuild. Gilgeous-Alexander doesn't care about the circumstances, though. 

"Regardless of the situation, I'm going to continue to work hard and play my game," the 21-year-old point guard said. "I know that eventually it will come out and things like that. I don't worry about starting. I don't worry about accolades or anything like that. I just work hard, keep my head down and be true to who I am."

Chris Paul landed in Oklahoma City in the Westbrook trade, and the 2018 first-round pick noted he's looking forward to being mentored by a nine-time All-Star. 

On Wednesday, Brian Windhorst gave new insight into Paul's future in Oklahoma City on ESPN's The Jump (h/t Real GM): 

"Here's what executives expect to happen: they expect the Thunder to put out a message that we're not looking to trade Chris Paul...We want him to work with our young guys. Because they don't want anybody to think they're panic-trying to trade him, and they want to hope that somebody has something happen where they need Chris Paul."

When Paul was dealt, the widespread belief was that the Thunder didn't intend to keep him. Should the 34-year-old end up getting moved, Gilgeous-Alexander will have a stronghold at point. 

In his rookie season with the Clippers, the Kentucky product played all 82 regular-season games (starting 73) and averaged 10.8 points, 3.3 assists, 2.8 rebounds and 1.2 steals. 

As the Oklahoma City Thunder explore the market for nine-time All-Star Chris Paul, they are reportedly doing their best to maintain their leverage. 

According to ESPN's Brian Windhorst, OKC wants to give opposing teams the impression that it is not desperate to force a Paul trade and is willing to keep him on the roster moving forward:

"Here's what executives expect to happen: They expect the Thunder to put out a message that we're not looking to trade Chris Paul. We want him here. We want him as a part of our unit. We want him to work with our young guys. Because they don't want anybody to think they're panic-trying to trade him. And they want to hope that somebody has something happen where they need Chris Paul."

Paul was acquired from Houston last month as part of the trade for 2016-17 NBA MVP Russell Westbrook that also netted the Rockets a pair of first-round picks. The 34-year-old has two years and $79.9 million remaining on his contract, as well as a $44.2 million player option for 2021-22.

As OKC stockpiled future draft assets in the Westbrook and Paul George trades, it was widely expected Paul would be shopped. ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported in the aftermath of the Rockets trade that the Thunder wanted to move the veteran point guard "as soon as they can."

Oklahoma City reportedly discussed Paul with the Miami Heat, but those trade talks did not lead to a deal. As a result, Wojnarowski reported the expectation is Paul will open the season in a Thunder uniform.

Bleacher Report's Ken Berger reported last month that Oklahoma City is open to keeping Paul if he is on board with the plan.

At this point in the league year, finding a team that can absorb Paul's contract would not be easy. The market figures to be limited, potentially forcing the Thunder to wait until at least Dec. 15 (when players who signed as free agents this summer can be traded) to look for a trade partner.

Here is the formula for why:

*40% of players under contract cannot be traded

* There are no teams with significant cap space (ATL has the most @ $7M)

* Biggest trade exception is GSW ($17.2M) who is hard capped- next is DAL @ $11.8M https://t.co/H6FExQmTAf

— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) July 17, 2019

For now, it appears as though OKC will remain patient.

At this time a year ago, the Oklahoma City Thunder fashioned themselves as title contenders.

They'd just pulled off perhaps the greatest coup in franchise history, convincing Paul George to re-sign in OKC rather than coming home to Los Angeles. Ownership was finally giving general manager Sam Presti the financial wherewithal to go for it.

One first-round exit later, the Thunder are embarking on a full-scale rebuild.

George started the dominoes, requesting a trade back home so he could team with Kawhi Leonard on the Clippers. Russell Westbrook was gone weeks later, as his 11-year tenure with the franchise ended in a trade to Houston. The Westbrook deal brought back Chris Paul, who it appears will be on the roster opening night.

The Thunder's haul essentially amounts to draft picks and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, a promising second-year player who probably lacks superstar potential.

The darkest days in Thunder basketball are ahead; there's no way around it. When the franchise arrived from Seattle, it had a young superstar in Kevin Durant, a future MVP in Russell Westbrook and another MVP coming a year later in James Harden. The city has seen exactly two missed postseasons since the move; this will be the beginning of a real test of Oklahoma City as a long-term basketball market.

With the schedule released Monday, here's a look at how things should shake out for the Thunder next season.

     

2019-20 Season Details

Season Opener: at Utah Jazz (Oct. 23)

Championship Odds: +50000 (Caesars)

Full Schedule: NBA.com

      

vs. Houston Rockets (Jan. 9)

There will be many returns this season that feature a high level of vitriol. Kyrie Irving is going to get booed out of Boston. Anthony Davis will have the scorn of New Orleans upon him, unless they're already tired from booing him last season.

Russell Westbrook? Polar opposite.

Russ is the one who stayed until it no longer made sense for him to do so. He's the most beloved figure in Thunder history, and his trade to Houston was understood and welcomed with open arms after George forced his way to the Clippers.

Westbrook said on Instagram following the trade:

"You have supported me through all of the ups and the downs, and stood by me through the good times, and tough times. For that I am eternally grateful to you. I've met so many amazing people who have helped shape me into the man that I am today. I hope I have impacted the Oklahoma community as much as Oklahoma has made an impact on me and my family. I'm leaving Oklahoma with so many friends and so much gratitude. I could never thank you all enough for sticking with me. It's been a dream and a whirlwind."

On the other hand, odds are Paul won't be feeling warm and fuzzy going against Harden and his former teammates. Paul's rocky relationship with Harden is no doubt a large part why he's in a $124 million basketball purgatory at the moment. 

       

Prediction

The Thunder's season will be dependent on how long Paul remains on their roster. If he's around the full season, this is a borderline playoff team. Paul, Steven Adams, Danilo Gallinari, Andre Roberson, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nerlens Noel, Dennis Schroder...these are actual basketball players and the pieces of a pretty strong rotation.

But every veteran on this roster knows his time is limited. Gallinari is on an expiring contract and is a really good player who can help out a ton of playoff teams; it would be a genuine shock if he were in OKC beyond the deadline. Roberson is likewise an impending free agent who will spend the first few months of the season auditioning for playoff teams that need wing defensive help.

Paul and the Thunder know he's doing little but attempting to increase his trade value so teams see him as more than a bloated contract. It's a weird and impossible-to-predict team. OKC could win 48 games and wind up a better team than it was a year ago, or Paul could get hurt early on and things could quickly deteriorate into a tankathon.

Record Prediction: 41-41

Oklahoma City Thunder forward Danilo Gallinari is undergoing an appendectomy and will be out of action until Aug. 12 at the earliest, the Italian Basketball Federation announced on Sunday (h/t Eurohoops.net).

He is still expected to represent Italy at the FIBA World Cup this summer, however.

The 30-year-old Gallinari is Italy's top star, joining NBA veteran Marco Belinelli on the squad to give the Italians a solid one-two punch.

The former No. 6 overall pick by the New York Knicks in the 2008 NBA draft has also played for the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Clippers in his career. He was sent to the Thunder this offseason alongside Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and a bounty of draft considerations in the Paul George trade that facilitated Kawhi Leonard's signing with the Clippers and shook up the NBA landscape. 

The veteran forward appeared in 68 games for the Clippers this past season, averaging career highs in points (19.8 PPG) and rebounds (6.1 RPG). He shot 46.3 percent from the field, 43.3 percent from three and 90.4 percent from the free-throw line. 

His ability to hit shots from the perimeter makes him the ideal modern stretch-4, though he's also capable of playing at the 3. He'll undoubtedly be the focal point for Italy at the FIBA World Cup, a tournament that suddenly appears to be wide open given the spate of United States superstars that are skipping. 

LeBron James, Anthony Davis, James Harden, Eric Gordon, Kevin Love, Damian Lillard, C.J. McCollum, Andre Drummond, Tobias Harris and Paul Millsap have all withdrawn from consideration. 

Oklahoma City Thunder General Manager Sam Presti sidestepped a question Thursday about rumors of discontent last season between Russell Westbrook and Paul George before both superstars were traded.

"I just can't get into whatever the speculation is," Presti told reporters. "I just can tell you this, I don't know how many people in the NBA are contented at the end of the season."

Shams Charania of Stadium and The Athletic reported after George was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers that rival teams were "aware of the discontent of OKC's two stars."

Although the blockbuster deal, which was reported in connection with reigning NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard signing with the Clippers, came as a shock to much of the basketball community, George told ESPN's Rachel Nichols on Wednesday it wasn't a surprise to those with the Thunder.

"This was nothing that came out of the blue; we were all on the same page," he said. "The initial plan was to give it another year, see what we could do and I did that. We played another year and it felt like we were just stagnant. Next thing was, let's move forward with other plans."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7nPVdRxN4LU

Meanwhile, Westbrook was traded to the Houston Rockets to link back up with James Harden in the aftermath of George's move as Oklahoma City started to shift focus to the future.

Although George didn't discuss speculation about potential issues with Westbrook, he noted they had an "easy" talk about his departure from OKC.

"[S]ame conversation me and Russ always have," he told Nichols. "He was happy, he understood. He was all for it. We talked as men and again, he was happy for me and he wanted me to do what was best for me and my career."

Background details aside, the two superstars have gone their separate ways and could face each other during the playoffs with the Clippers and Rockets set to contend in a loaded Western Conference.

The Oklahoma City Thunder will pay tribute to those killed in the April 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building with special uniforms next season.

OKC unveiled its full uniform lineup for the 2019-20 campaign Tuesday, including a set of threads that will honor the 25th anniversary of the tragedy:

Introducing your 2019-20 uniform kit. pic.twitter.com/ap6Uqzgo9S

— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) July 23, 2019

As the 25th anniversary of 4/19/95 approaches, we were honored to work with the OKC National Memorial & Museum to create our 2019-20 City Edition uniform. It's a tribute to those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever.

🔗 https://t.co/mimmv8ZiET pic.twitter.com/Y9ix5jFz7o

— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) July 23, 2019

The Oklahoma City bombing killed 168 people and injured hundreds more. At the time, it was the deadliest terrorist attack on United States soil.

An image of the Survivor Tree appears along the waistband of the uniforms, and there is no shortage of other tributes, per the team's official website:

"The uniform design features symbols that represent elements of the memorial. Across the chest, 'Oklahoma City' appears in gold-lined letters, with the twin Gates of Time spanning down the side of the jerseys that carry into the shorts. The times 9:01 and 9:03 appear within the vents of the shorts. They reflect the innocence of the city at 9:01 before the attack, followed by the time the city began to come together and heal at 9:03. The white on the side of the shorts represents the Reflecting Pool, a shallow depth of water that provides comfort and peace. 'Service,' 'Honor' and 'Kindness' appear above the jersey's tag – reflecting the ideals of the Oklahoma Standard, and the manner in which Oklahoma citizens treat one another and their community."

Along with the special uniforms, the Thunder will also fund free admission to the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum once a month throughout 2020.

The tradability, or lack thereof, of Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Chris Paul, based on his contract, has been a major point of conversation this offseason.

The 34-year-old is set to make a total of $124 million over the next three seasons, a huge number that may be tough for the Thunder to trade this year without giving up significant assets in return.

One place that conversation likely won't be happening, however, is in locker rooms around the NBA. As Paul told Clevis Murray of The Athletic, players don't routinely talk finances in that setting:

"I think the reason why I'm so passionate about this is because I'm finishing up my 14th year in the NBA, and I've been around long enough to realize that guys in our league, we talk about everything in the locker room except for finance, except for money. Nobody talks about money, because it's one of those uncomfortable things."

That makes sense. It might be a bit awkward for someone like Paul, who is set to make $35.6 million this season, to discuss his financial situation with Hamidou Diallo, who is making $1.4 million this year. The two would naturally have different perspectives on finances.

But Paul is hoping to change that dynamic within the locker room, primarily to help educate younger players about how to manage their finances and therefore prevent more cautionary tales of athletes who went broke after their playing careers.

Even helping young players understand the various responsibilities and financial commitments that come with being an adult is important to Paul:

"I've heard so many stories. That's why I try to talk to guys because it happens. This is a short career. In the grand scheme of life, this is a short career. You try to maximize it as much as possible. There's the rookie transition program and all these different people that try and help you. But when you come in the NBA at 18 years old, you're just thinking about basketball, basketball, basketball. You don't even understand what health insurance is."

One idea Paul has advocated for is having team governors speak to the players about finances, since those governors have acquired the wealth needed to purchase an NBA team. While he was with the Los Angeles Clippers, Steve Ballmer took Paul up on his idea.

"I'll tell you one thing, when Ballmer sat down there, everyone was all ears," he told Murray. "My hope is that's something we can keep implementing in our league and just try to continue that dialogue. I think guys would definitely listen to the owners and CEOs of their teams who've dealt with that type of money."

Ballmer, the former CEO of Microsoft, has a net worth of around $50.4 billion. His voice will carry weight for players when it comes to finances. But for Paul, getting those same players to discuss finances and help one another to avoid the pitfalls of bad business decisions or exploitative financial advisors is an important step as well.