{"id":261969,"date":"2025-09-28T19:10:30","date_gmt":"2025-09-28T19:10:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/261969\/"},"modified":"2025-09-28T19:10:30","modified_gmt":"2025-09-28T19:10:30","slug":"what-does-sam-presti-remember-about-chris-pauls-time-in-okc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/261969\/","title":{"rendered":"What does Sam Presti remember about Chris Paul’s time in OKC?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nothing is official yet, but the writing is on the wall. After spending the last few seasons wandering as a backup journeyman, Chris Paul hopes to have a storybook ending to his Hall of Fame career with one last stop on the LA Clippers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Paul may never wear a ring, but there’s no denying his all-time status. The 40-year-old has averaged 17 points and 9.2 assists in his illustrious career. The 12-time All-Star and five-time assist champion is one of the greatest point guards in NBA history.<\/p>\n

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While most will remember Paul for his tenure with the Clippers, his brief stint with the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> often goes under the radar. At the time, his public perception was at an all-time low. He was dealt in a trade for Russell Westbrook. Many thought the former’s best years were behind him as he entered a rebuild.<\/p>\n

Instead, Paul made lemonade with lemons. He enjoyed a bounce-back season that saw him be an All-NBA member. He also headlined one of the more fun Thunder squads in recent memory as they pushed the Houston Rockets<\/a> to a Game 7 in a Round 1 playoff series.<\/p>\n

You always hear about how important Paul’s mentorship was to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Both played their first season in OKC together. The latter ascended into all-time status when he won an MVP and a championship last season. His old veteran teacher attended the 2025 NBA Finals in support.<\/p>\n

At his 2025-26 preseason press conference<\/a>, Sam Presti reflected on Paul’s short time in OKC. He valued their time together and said being able to work on a day-to-day basis with him really backed up all the praise he heard about him from across the league.<\/p>\n

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“Working with Chris was great because you get to see that mind working every day and his level of detail and preparation. I’m grateful because when we traded for him, it was a surprise to him, but he put two feet in here,” Presti said. “We do not have that season, which was the equivalent of a 50-win season, without his full commitment to the team. He was essential to that season, and we don’t take 50-win seasons for granted here. That was a fun year.”<\/p>\n

Presti later said the Paul era gets forgotten. When people think of the Thunder, they think of the Westbrook era, then the Gilgeous-Alexander era. In between, though, Paul left his stamp in OKC as one of its best players in franchise history.<\/p>\n

“When we made that decision to start to reposition, replenish and rebuild, CP kept us going for another year,” Presti said. “I have so much respect for him because of that.”<\/p>\n

This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: What does Sam Presti remember about Chris Paul’s time in OKC?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nothing is official yet, but the writing is on the wall. After spending the last few seasons wandering…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":261970,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[10446,3136,22805,1260,1268,21596,137028,3371,62,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-261969","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-chris-paul","9":"tag-houston-rockets","10":"tag-la-clippers","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","13":"tag-russell-westbrook","14":"tag-sam-presti","15":"tag-shai-gilgeous-alexander","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115283507527439609","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261969","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=261969"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/261969\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/261970"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=261969"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=261969"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=261969"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}