The biggest message out of Sam Presti’s 2025-26 preseason press conference was to not get stuck in the past. The Oklahoma City Thunder captured the NBA championship after a historically dominant season. But they won’t be able to bring that over this year. Instead, they have to start from scratch.
The Thunder rode the league’s best defense to the Larry O’Brien trophy. A roster filled with high-level defenders at all three levels made them look like the NBA’s Legion of Boom. Anytime they went on a signature second-half avalanche run, it was backed by a bunch of turnovers created.
The Thunder had a historic 68-14 regular-season record. They set the record for point differential. Even with an inconsistent offense, a championship run was highlighted by two Game 7 wins. All that said, though, there’s no such thing as a perfect team.
“Since the earliest days of our repositioning, we’ve talked about having an offensive play style that can be scaled and built upon, and every year that Mark has been the coach we’ve gotten better incrementally. We took steps last year in obviously offensive rating,” Presti said. “Our expected numbers were up, our turnovers were down, but I don’t think we’re at a place yet where other teams are sitting around feeling like they can’t stop us.”
In his opening remarks, Presti pointed out two areas he believes the Thunder could improve on. Both on the offensive side, as that was the weaker of the two for the NBA champion last season.
“Hopefully getting to the free-throw line a little bit more, maybe some offensive rebounding,” Presti said. “But there’s opportunity for us to continue to take those steps.”
The Thunder were 26th in free-throw attempts last season at 20.4. That’s despite their two All-Star players being drive-heavy scorers in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams. Heck, the former has led the league in drives per game the last five seasons by a wide margin.
It became a point of contention for the Thunder last season. Mark Daigneault would episodically mention their surprisingly low free-throw attempt numbers despite always being in the paint. Williams also had a couple of moments where his frustration was visible due to a lack of calls.
The Thunder were also not the best offensive rebound team. They were 20th at 10.6. While Isaiah Hartenstein helped them go from one of the worst teams on the board to above league average, they could still grow on the offensive boards and create more second-chance looks. That should increase their margin for error with their halfcourt possessions.
It was interesting to see Presti mention both of those areas as basketball facets where the Thunder can improve. If they can do that, the offense should be more reliable. They brought home an NBA championship, but that doesn’t mean you become stagnant. There are always ways to improve in basketball.