Thunder executive Sam Presti had already built a team that was a No. 1 seed with an elite young core of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren. Yet, last year’s playoffs exposed some holes in the roster — they needed toughness — and Presti had a great offseason filling those by signing big man Isaiah Hartenstein and trading Josh Giddey to Chicago for Alex Caruso.
Those moves, leading the Thunder to a 68-win season and a team expected to come out of the Western Conference, earned Presti the NBA Executive of the Year award.
This is an award voted on by Presti’s peers, the other lead executives/GMs around the league.
Presti got 10 first-place votes, with six second-place and six third-place votes. Cleveland’s Koby Altman finished second in the voting with six first-place votes, with the Pistons’ Trajan Langdon third. The Rockets’ Rafael Stone finished fourth, and the Clippers’ Lawrence Frank was fifth. In total, 13 executives got a top-three vote. The complete voting results can be seen here.
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