In a press conference meant to be about the future of his organization, Sam Presti spent an equal amount of time talking about the current Thunder roster as he did players that are no longer in Oklahoma City.
The first question (after the most obvious one wanting to know more about Presti’s beard) was about Doc Rivers and Paul George. The second was about Kevin Durant.
Durant made some less than flattering comments earlier this month about his relationship, or more accurately the lack thereof, with the organization in which he got his start.
Despite Durant’s feelings towards Oklahoma City, Presti has nothing but love for the former Thunder star.
“If there is anything that Kevin Durant ever, ever needed from me or from anyone here, it would be a moment’s notice for that to happen. He was 19 when he came into the NBA, I was 29. We both went through a lot of changes together, and I have nothing but positive things to say about him and his tenure here.”
Presti went on to say that “he’s never going to change” how he feels about Durant.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, KD said he was surprised by how he was treated the first time he returned to Oklahoma City after he left in 2016 to join the Golden State Warriors.
“Such a venomous toxic feeling when I walked into that arena. And just the organization, the trainers and equipment managers, those dudes is pissed off at me? Ain’t talking to me? I’m like, Yo, this is where we going with this? Because I left a team and went to play with another team?”
Durant the decided to essentially take the scorched earth route, stating that he would “never be attached to that city again”, among other things.
Presti also addressed recent comments made by Doc Rivers saying that the Clippers knew that the Thunder “wanted to break up their team” prior to trading for Paul George. He said that Rivers’ statement was not true but “obviously nobody asked us our opinion about it”.
