{"id":773446,"date":"2026-07-20T07:22:09","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T07:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/773446\/"},"modified":"2026-07-20T07:22:09","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T07:22:09","slug":"sam-presti-calls-lu-dort-trade-a-financial-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/773446\/","title":{"rendered":"Sam Presti Calls Lu Dort Trade \u2018A Financial Decision\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

After trading Luguentz Dort<\/a> to the Hawks in a three-team deal<\/a> that sent back three second-round picks to the Thunder, general manager Sam Presti gave an interview to Justin Martinez of The Oklahoman<\/a> to discuss the trade.<\/p>\n

\"\"Presti said at the end of the season that if anything was going to change the personnel makeup of the team he had so painstakingly constructed, it would be the financial realities affecting an increasingly expensive roster, and he doubled down on that stance when asked about it by Martinez.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was a financial decision,\u201d Presti said. \u201cThe impression I have been given is that the savings generated this summer, and from being out of the tax the last several years, will be reallocated to future teams. Along with other new well-documented revenue streams, this will allow us to make more basketball-related decisions over the next several years.\u201d<\/p>\n

By trading Dort and taking no salary back, the Thunder will save $100MM in projected salary and tax penalties while giving themselves the space to sign a player with their 15th roster spot without going back into second-apron territory, according to Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron (Twitter link<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The move was not made due to second apron restrictions, however, but rather the luxury tax savings, Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman notes (via Twitter<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a team that is capable of contention. And as I understand it, the decisions this summer have positioned us financially to maintain a team of this caliber,\u201d Presti said.<\/p>\n

Presti added that he has a longstanding relationship with Dort and had been incredibly impressed by his mentality and makeup.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just remember saying to him that this was the beginning and not the end, that on draft night things are aligned vertically 1-to-60, but the morning after everyone is lined up side by side horizontally at an imaginary starting line,\u201d Presti reminisced. \u201cIt\u2019s safe to say that he will finish amongst the top of that race. I love the guy, love what he\u2019s about and we will miss him.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for what comes next, Presti noted that young guards Cason Wallace<\/a> and Ajay Mitchell<\/a> last season and in the playoffs that they\u2019re ready to take on additional responsibilities. Rather than trying to fit one or the other into the role that Dort played so well, Presti says the team will have to adjust to the skill sets of those two.<\/p>\n

\u201c[It] has always been our belief, it is necessary to embrace change and not fall victim to trying to imitate ourselves or our previous play style,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Presti also noted that while financial constraints made it necessary to move Dort, Aaron Wiggins<\/a>, and Isaiah Joe<\/a> this offseason, those three were crucial to the team\u2019s success in recent years and the decision to part with them was not easy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After trading Luguentz Dort to the Hawks in a three-team deal that sent back three second-round picks to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":773447,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[119098,69879,149487,107154,99],"class_list":["post-773446","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-aaron-wiggins","tag-isaiah-joe","tag-luguentz-dort","tag-sam-presti","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773446","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=773446"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/773446\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/773447"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=773446"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=773446"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=773446"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}