With the 2025-26 NBA season right around the corner, OKC Thunder executive vice president and general manager Sam Presti spoke to the media on Thursday.
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Sam Presti says Thomas Sorber was ‘playing great’ before he suffered a torn ACL
The Thunder will have to wait before Thomas Sorber makes his NBA debut.
The rookie center suffered a torn ACL in his right knee during a workout on Sept. 4 and will be out for the entire upcoming season. It’s an unfortunate setback for Sorber, who was recovering from a turf toe injury that sidelined him for all of Summer League play.
“Obviously, I’m super disappointed for Thomas,” Presti said. “He spent the whole summer getting himself back and was playing great. He was playing 5-on-5 and was anxiously waiting for the rest of the team to show up. It’s a really tough situation, but he’s got the right mindset. He’s got great natural energy.”
Fortunately for Sorber, he can lean on teammates Chet Holmgren and Nikola Topić. Both players missed their first season due to injuries.
“He’s going to get something out of this year, 100 percent,” Presti said. “And I think it’ll position him well going into next season. But it’s certainly disappointing.”
While OKC waits for Sorber to return, it’ll have a wealth of options at the five.
It has two 7-footers in Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein. It has versatile backups in Jaylin Williams and Kenrich Williams. It has a break-glass-in-case-of-emergency option in Jalen Williams. And it has a two-way player in Branden Carlson, who Presti raved about.
“Sometimes, I don’t think we talk enough about Branden Carlson,” Presti said. “He was pretty integral to our team last season. He stepped up in some really big games. … I think he’s got a bright future, so having him with the group is great.
“I think we’ll be good, but we also don’t have a ton of flexibility to go out and do something. We don’t feel the need to do that right now.”
Chet Holmgren showed the heart of a champion last season.
At 23 years old, the 7-foot-1 forward suffered a hip fracture just 10 games into the campaign. But he finished the regular season with averages of 15 points, 8 rebounds and 2.2 blocks, and he helped OKC win its first championship.
Health continues to be a concern for Holmgren, who has only played in 52.3% of OKC’s games throughout his three seasons with the team. But he’s an invaluable contributor for the Thunder, and he has plenty of time to take his game to another level.
“I’m really excited to see him continue to grow,” Presti said. “What makes Chet who he is isn’t statistics. It isn’t highlight plays. It’s the things that connect the team to winning. He has this instinctual ability to do that. … I think he’ll only be better.”
Jalen Williams is ‘working his tail off’ after wrist injury
Jalen Williams helped OKC win its first championship last season, and he did so while playing through a torn ligament in his right wrist.
Williams then underwent successful surgery to address the injury on July 1. That marked the start of his recovery process this offseason, which is now coming to close.
Williams shed his wrist brace earlier this month and returned to playing. But OKC will continue to take it day by day with the 24-year-old forward, who earned All-NBA third team and All-Defensive second team selections last season.
“He’s done everything he can possibly do to this point,” Presti said of Williams. “It wasn’t like he was sitting on his couch staring at his wrist. He’s working his tail off.
“Once we get through camp, we’ll see where we are. As with anything, it’ll be a collaborative decision as to when he returns. Ultimately, he has to feel comfortable with when that is.”
After missing all of last season due to a partially torn ACL in his left knee, Nikola Topić is back in the mix.
The former 12th overall pick in 2024 appeared in six NBA Summer League games this offseason. He averaged 10.8 points, 5.8 assists and 3.2 rebounds on 33.3% shooting from the field and 20.8% shooting from deep.
Topić is now tasked with carving out a role on a Thunder team that’s returning all of its rotation players. That process will take time, Presti says.
“We just have to see where he is, how the team performs, where the combinations are and give that some time,” Presti said. “We have to be really patient with that.”
OKC didn’t make any splashing trades or sign a big-name free agent this offseason.
Instead, it focused on retaining its young core. The same one that just led OKC to its first championship in franchise history.
The first thing OKC did was sign Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to a four-year, $285-million supermax contract extension on July 1. It’ll kick in for the 2027-28 season.
OKC then signed Chet Holmgren on July 9 to a five-year, maximum rookie contract extension that could reach $250 million. And it signed Jalen Williams on July 10 to a five-year, maximum rookie contract extension that could reach $287 million.
OKC’s star trio is now under contract through the 2030-31 season. And it’ll look to lead the Thunder for years to come.
“It’s obviously really significant for us to have those types of players committed to the organization for the amount of time that they are,” Presti said. “All of them are still improving. All of them have demonstrated their ability to impact winning on both sides of the ball.”
The OKC Thunder is fresh off of a historically-great season.
OKC went 68-14 in the regular season, which is tied for the sixth-best record in NBA history. It won its games by an average of 12.9 points, which is the best in league history. And, most importantly, the Thunder won its first championship.
It was a storybook ending. But as OKC prepares to begin the 2025-26 season, Presti is focused on the next chapter.
“The process of becoming a great team did not end last season,” Presti said. “Every team in the league has something in front of them that is their passage to the next stage of their growth and development. The next step in front of us, in order to become a great team again, is the discipline and humility to turn the page.
“We’re not trying to repeat an outcome. We’re trying to repeat a process.”
It’s becoming more difficult to repeat as champions in the NBA. A new winner has been crowned in each of the last seven seasons.
OKC has the pieces to snap that streak, though. It’s returning all of its rotation players, and the young team has room to improve. It’ll need to do exactly that, Presti says.
“We as a basketball team have to get better,” Presti said. “We have to improve. In that sense, we’re all beginners again, coming into the season with an open mind and staring into a blank canvas.”
When does OKC Thunder begin 2025-26 NBA season?
OKC will play six preseason games, beginning with a game against the Charlotte Hornets on Oct. 5 in Charleston, South Carolina.
OKC will then tip off the regular season with a home game against the Houston Rockets on Oct. 21. It’ll also be ring night for the reigning champion Thunder.
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