(Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)
The Oklahoma City Thunder had an incredible season en route to winning 57 games and snagging the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, but ultimately fell short of their biggest goal by losing in the second round of the playoffs to the Dallas Mavericks in six games.
Despite being flush with assets and cap space, general manager Sam Presti was conservative at the trade deadline by doing little other than trading for Gordon Hayward from the Charlotte Hornets for a bunch of spare parts, and Presti has now gotten honest about how that trade panned out.
In a recent press conference (via Thunder Film Room on Twitter) discussing how the season turned out, Presti shared self-awareness and honesty you don’t often see from executives and said regarding the Hayward trade, “I missed on that. That’s on me, but I’m learning.”
“I missed on that. That’s on me, but I’m learning.”
– Sam Presti discussing how while the Gordon Hayward trade was multidimensional (freed up roster spots & Cap), he feels that he misread it & talked about how it’s a learning experience.
Found the self-awareness cool. pic.twitter.com/rJe7f6ASAT
— Thunder Film Room (@ThunderFilmRoom) May 28, 2024
Presti expressed that while the trade was multidimensional in the sense of freeing up roster spots and cap space, he felt that he misread the situation.
Hearing him speak about how much the team changed over the course of the season despite having the same players was interesting, as he acknowledged how one of the most important aspects of his job is to simply observe and always try to give the team what it needs.
The Hayward trade didn’t work out, and it became even more obvious against Dallas as the Mavs acquired Daniel Gafford and P.J. Washington at the trade deadline and leaned on them to make a furious run through the playoffs.
Gafford would have been a perfect fit for the Thunder, but Hayward unfortunately was not.
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