When asked about Oklahoma City Thunder rookie guard Josh Giddey during All-Star weekend pressers, Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James unpromptedly started to praise Thunder GM Sam Presti.
“The MVP over there is Sam Presti. He the MVP. I mean, Josh Giddey is great, but Sam Presti — I don’t understand this guy’s eye for talent,” said James. “He drafted KD, Russ, Jeff Green, Serge Ibaka, Reggie Jackson, Josh Giddey and the list goes on and on and on. This guy’s pretty damn good.”
Many speculated that this was a dig from James towards Lakers GM Rob Pelinka, who stood pat at the trade deadline despite James reportedly wanting the Lakers to improve the roster to make a push.
“I heard that he was trying to get Sam Presti in there to replace Rob,” the second Eastern Conference GM said. “I don’t see that happening, but I could see him trying to get Pelinka out of there.”
Considering that the relationship between James and the Lakers is on unsettling grounds right now due to reports of tension, I have a hard time understanding the reasoning behind James wanting Presti to join the Lakers as the 37-year-old is only under contract for next season and has already made his intentions known that he wants to play with his son — current high school junior Bronny James Jr. — in the NBA before retiring.
Presti is also just in his second season of a rebuild with the Thunder where they already have collected two franchise cornerstones in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey along with having a historic amount of draft picks in their ammunition. Considering Presti’s history and ties with the franchise, it’s hard to envision him leaving his position just so he could be James’ GM for a few seasons max.
