Scroll down to watch my video explaining the surprising origins of this Oklahoma City Thunder juggernaut.
As the Oklahoma City Thunder attempt to complete their journey for their first NBA championship, the core of their record-breaking, 68-win roster can be traced all the way back to the franchise’s Seattle Supersonics days.
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Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the MVP of the league, is actually a result of a succession of deals that go all the way back to when Rashard Lewis was stretching the floor as a 6-foot-10 forward.
After nine standout seasons with the Supersonics that included one All-Star appearance, Lewis was moved to the Orlando Magic in a sign-and-trade in the summer of 2007. The haul wasn’t much of anything. The Sonics only received a $9 million trade exception and a top-55 protected second-round pick in the 2009 draft, which doesn’t sound very significant. But in a series of trades over the years — about half a dozen of them — the Thunder turned that second-round pick into the massive haul that brought SGA and a myriad of draft picks to Oklahoma City for Paul George. The Thunder also used one of those picks on Jalen Williams, SGA’s perimeter running mate.
Such is the magic of Sam Presti.
The longtime Thunder general manager hasn’t only built this team through trades. He grabbed Chet Holmgren with the team’s own pick in 2022. He signed Lu Dort as an undrafted free agent in 2019; the organization developed Dort into one of the best 3-and-D players in the league. Presti signed Isaiah Hartenstein to a massive free agent deal this past summer.
The sum of Presti’s work has brought the Thunder to the cusp of a title as they battle the Indiana Pacers in the 2025 NBA Finals. Rashard Lewis, from back in the Emerald City, turned into a second-round pick that touched every iteration of the Thunder, ranging from Serge Ibaka, to Victor Oladipo, to George and, of course, to the current squad.
You never know exactly what the ramifications of a trade can be, even 18 years later.
(Top photo: Alonzo Adams / Imagn)
