OKC's Sam Presti is selected as NBA Executive of the Year

Sam Presti of the Oklahoma City Thunder announced Tuesday as Executive of the Year, which is a reward for winning the league's best 68 games this season.

This is the first time Presti has won the award and the first time since 1994 that it has been called Seattle Supersonics, whose executives have been selected as winners. Bob Whitsitt won that season.

Presti, the Thunder executive vice president and general manager, received 10 votes from a group of 30 basketball executives, one of every team in the NBA – they ranked in the top three. Presti appeared in 22 of these 30 votes.

“Awards like this are really the result of our players and their commitment to our program,” Presti said. “They drive all kinds of abilities for the benefit of the team. I'm lucky to be working with this particular man, and I'm not taking their professionalism for granted.

“We have an incredible coach and support staff, many people who are behind the team for over a decade here, and I see their excellence every day, invisible ways but invaluable to sustainable organizations.”

Cleveland's Koby Altman won six votes after the Cavaliers won 64 games and finished the game in the Eastern Conference rankings. Detroit's Trajan Langdon also won six votes, and the Pistons ranked third after winning a 44-win playoff run from 14 wins in his first year ahead of the lead.

Houston's Rafael Stone (four votes and four votes) ranked fourth, Los Angeles Clippers' Lawrence Frank (one vote) ranked fifth, and Los Angeles Lakers' Rob Pelinka (also No. 1) ranked sixth. Pelinka designed the biggest trade of the season, which is the Lakers that brought Luka Doncic to the Dallas Mavericks, but only five out of 30 votes.

Golden State's Mike Dunleavy is seventh, Brooklyn's Sean Marks and 2024 Boston Celtics award champion Brad Stevens (both won a vote in the first place), and New York's Leon Rose is eighth.

Monte McNair of Sacramento was ranked 11th, while Jeff Weltman of Orlando and Brian Wright of San Antonio tied for 12th.

The Executive of the Year award is like most NBA season honors, which are voted by a global group of 100 writers and broadcasters who cover the league and vote shortly after the regular season.

The awards are part of that voting process and have already been achieved: Kenny Atkinson of Cleveland won the Coach of the Year, Dyson Dyson Daniels of Atlanta won the state-of-the-art player, and San Antonio won the Sixth place of the Year.

Other awards announced by the league since the end of the regular season are: Stephen Curry of Golden State won the Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year Award, Warriors teammate Draymond Green won the Hustle Award, and Boston's Jrue Holiday won the second career sports award. The league's social justice champion will be announced on Wednesday.

Major awards to be announced later in the playoffs include MVP (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of Oklahoma City, Nikola Jokic of Denver or Giannis Antetokounmpo of Milwaukee), as well as All-NBA, All-Rookie, All-Rookie and All-Rookie and All-Defence Teams.