Presti concluded his near 45-minute presser by stating he has yet to watch an NBA Finals game, but did reiterate his confidence concerning the Thunder moving forward, in part because of a quality ledger of post-season opposition. Presti did not say much about how he planned to pitch Durant, nor did he directly answer a question about how concerned he is that Durant might leave. “I thought he had an excellent first year, but I think next year a lot of the firsts will be gone for him, and he’ll be maybe even better”.
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Problem is, if Durant signs with anyone else this summer, that team won’t get his Bird Rights, a mechanism that allows teams to go over the cap to retain players.
“I think when those conversations occur, it’s really just a continuation of a dialogue that’s been going on for eight or nine years”. “It’s a chance to reflect and recognize that relationship and continue conversations that we’ve had on going”. “And then when it’s time, we’ll sit down and have that conversation with him, and at that point we’ll know where we stand”.
Durant will become a free agent next month, and will be the most sought-after player available around the league. “I thought it tried to be the best version of itself, I thought it was committed through the year, I thought it had sincerity to their efforts and at the end of the day they really respected the people they were playing against which I thought was really important”. It is true that the Thunder are lucky to have had him in the fold for this long, and it is smart to give him some time to figure things out.
Unlike Curry, who cited his recent ankle and knee injuries for opting out of these Games, which are already plagued with Zika virus fears, Durant escaped the 2015-16 season rather unscathed. We’re a couple pieces away, I think, from being contenders in the Eastern Conference.
Durant, along with fellow all-star Russell Westbrook, led the Thunder to a second-round series win over a 67-win San Antonio Spurs team before coming one win short of returning to the NBA Finals for the second time in his career. One, returning from injury, which none of us can really understand unless you’ve been an National Basketball Association player that’s missed a large amount of time due to injury and come back. Here are highlights from Presti’s exit interview.
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“He allowed the team to really enjoy a wonderful season”.
