GENERAL MANAGER SAM Presti and a contingent of Oklahoma City Thunder front office officials flew to Eugene, Oregon, to make a recruiting pitch to Isaiah Hartenstein as soon as NBA rules permitted at the opening of the 2024 free agency window.
Hartenstein was a journeyman center, a second-round pick who had toiled in the G League. He had been waived by one team and traded by another before establishing himself as an essential role player for the New York Knicks, his fifth club in his first five years in the NBA. He was also the most important free agency target in the Thunder franchise’s history.
But there was no sizzle in Presti’s pitch, no hint of playing to Hartenstein’s pride.
“I can’t promise you minutes,” Presti said as the meeting began, according to Hartenstein’s recollection. “I can’t promise you a role. But I can promise you a culture.”
Presti could also make a couple of other awfully enticing promises: a chance to compete for a championship and a contract far richer than the Knicks could offer to keep Hartenstein.
Presti had exercised extreme patience the previous season, when the Thunder became the youngest No. 1 seed in NBA history. The Thunder had accumulated a massive stockpile of draft picks during the franchise’s rapid rebuild, so Presti had enough assets to pursue a blockbuster deal in the trade market, had he chosen to do so. But Presti wanted to evaluate Oklahoma City’s core in its first playoffs together instead of making any significant changes.
Oklahoma City made two deals at that deadline, but neither upgraded the roster right away. Gordon Hayward didn’t contribute much to Oklahoma City in the final months of his career, but the trade to acquire him from the Charlotte Hornets created financial flexibility by shedding $18 million of salary from the next season’s books. The Thunder also gave up their own late first-round pick to facilitate the Mavericks’ trade for center Daniel Gafford, acquiring 2028 first-round swap rights from Dallas, a move made with the hope of long-term upside.
The Thunder were good but not good enough, getting eliminated by Luka Doncic’s Mavs in the second round of those 2024 playoffs. At that point, Presti was ready to pounce.
Presti still had no intention of chasing a star, a sign of his belief in the talented young trio of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams.
Presti focused more on fit than flash, identifying a couple of veteran complementary players who fit his profile as finishing pieces for the Thunder.
He traded for Alex Caruso, a defensive pest who won a championship ring with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020, on June 21. Nine days later, he met with Hartenstein, whose maximum offer from the Knicks was a four-year, $72.5 million deal due to collective bargaining agreement rules related to New York having only his early Bird rights. Hartenstein quickly agreed to Oklahoma City’s offer of three years and $87 million.
The Thunder prioritized character evaluations of Caruso and Hartenstein as much as the scouting reports. They were connectors and competitors, smart and selfless, physical and fearless. They were the perfect veterans to put in a locker room with a bunch of young players ready to win.
“Sam has passed on talents to get human beings,” Gilgeous-Alexander told ESPN. “That mindset has really helped this group. It’s a big reason why we all get along so well and have this chemistry that everyone talks about. Sam brings a certain type of person in here.”
It’s an approach Presti learned during his formative time in the San Antonio Spurs’ front office in the early 2000s. He began his career as an intern and rose through the executive ranks, experiencing the benefits of culture and character as the Spurs won three championships during his seven-year tenure before the Seattle SuperSonics hired the then-29-year-old Presti as the youngest general manager in the league, one year before the franchise relocated to Oklahoma City in 2008.
The additions of Caruso and Hartenstein were critical to Presti adding another championship ring to his collection last season.
Now, the Thunder’s handpicked vets are essential to Oklahoma City’s repeat hopes, which will require winning the Western Conference finals over a young, star-studded Spurs team attempting to skip the line in its first playoff run together. The series shifts to San Antonio on Friday (8:30 p.m. ET on TSN) with the Thunder having bounced back from a Game 1 loss behind big performances from the veterans who made them whole two summers ago.
