It’s May 20, 2021, and Sam Presti is meeting with the media. The Oklahoma City Thunder just wrapped a 22-win season, and the Thunder GM had a message to share:
It will take time.
A year and just 24 wins later, the message remained similar, with a touch more optimism:
We’re closer to being the team we want to be this season than we were last season, but we’re still really far away from ultimately getting to the level we want to be at.
The signs of growth were there. The team was progressing, and a message of patience was being replaced by statements of belief.