Sam Presti

Sam Presti (born c. 1976 in Concord, Massachusetts) is an American basketball executive. On June 7, 2007, Presti was hired as the General Manager (GM) of the Seattle SuperSonics, who later relocated and became the Oklahoma City Thunder. In the summer of 2010, the team extended his contract.

Presti previously served in several progressively more significant positions for the San Antonio Spurs after beginning as an intern. He met their General Manager R. C. Buford at a basketball camp in Aspen, Colorado. He is given much of the credit for encouraging the Spurs to draft point guard Tony Parker in 2001.

In his first move as GM of the SuperSonics, he traded multiple-time All-Star Ray Allen to the Boston Celtics, whom Allen helped win the NBA title in 2008, in a large trade that included the draft rights to Jeff Green. He shortly thereafter traded All-Star Rashard Lewis to the Orlando Magic for a second-round draft pick, generating a 9-million-dollar trade exception which Presti later used to land Kurt Thomas and two first-round draft picks from the Phoenix Suns. To lead the team, he selected as head coach P. J. Carlesimo, whom he knew as an assistant coach at San Antonio. In Presti's first season in charge, the team was a franchise worst 20–62. Toward the end of that season, the league authorized a move and after a court battle and settlement, the team was allowed to move to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Subsequently, they were renamed the Thunder.