Thunder GM after Kevin Durant’s comments: ‘I have nothing but positive things to say’ about him
Kevin Durant may have taken a shot at him this month, but Oklahoma Thunder general manager Sam Presti isn’t buying it.
More than three years after Durant left the organization for the Golden State Warriors, Presti insisted on Thursday that there was nothing but love between the two — even after Durant’s comments about him in the Wall Street Journal.
“If there is anything that Kevin Durant ever, ever needed from me or anyone here, it would be a moment’s notice for that to happen,” Presti said, via ESPN. “I also think if you work with people for eight years like we did, he and I — 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.
“You’ve asked me that in the past. You’ve asked me that today. You can ask me that in the future if something like this comes up again. I’m never going to change that tune because that’s how I feel.”
Durant is now with the Brooklyn Nets, and currently recovering from an Achilles injury he suffered in the NBA Finals — one that’s expected to sideline him all year. He was drafted by the Seattle Supersonics in 2007, the same year the organization hired Presti as their next general manager.
Earlier this month, Durant called out Presti and the rest of the Thunder front office in the Wall Street Journal, slamming them for how he was treated in his first game back to Oklahoma since he left for the Warriors.
“I eventually wanted to come back to that city and be part of that community and organization, but I don't trust nobody there,” Durant said, via the Wall Street Journal. “That s--t must have been fake, what they was doing. The organization, the GM, I ain't talked to none of those people, even had a nice exchange with those people, since I left.”
Presti, per ESPN, was asked about whether he had a “nice exchange” with Durant — as he told the Wall Street Journal. While he wouldn’t get into the specifics of any personal conversations he’s had with Durant, Presti was adamant that their relationship is on solid ground.
“I would always be there if he needed anything from me, and I truthfully believe … it would be reciprocated as well,” Presti said, via ESPN.
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