Emptying the clip will always be way more respectful than pulling a disappearing act. Go out on your sword. Bad shooting night but we never once asked “Where the fuck is SGA” tonight. And that’s the worst question you can ask about someone in a high stakes game.
"The night that we traded Russell, I was writing that op-ed and I was getting off the phone with Daryl and then writing a couple lines and then getting back on the phone with Daryl, then talking to Thad, Russell's agent, then talking to Russell.
We had basically wrapped up the trade. It was pretty late, and I was walking down one of the hallways in the building and I heard a ball bouncing. I walked into someone's office that had a window. I think there may have been three people in the building, and I looked out the window, and Shai was working out. He had just got here. I said hi to him or something. It was pretty quick. He was just -- he was in there working out with I think it was one of his agents. I can't remember exactly. It was kind of a blur because I was pretty emotional about the whole Russell thing and then we have these new guys coming in and it was -- you know, it was a very -- you just didn't know which way was one.
He didn't even have Thunder gear on. That I remember because I was like, why doesn't this guy have Thunder gear? What is this? What kind of shop are we running here?
It was just ironic to me, and I thought, if this guy ever becomes a player, I've got to remember this story. I'm confident enough now to tell you the story, because I think this guy is going to be a player."
- Sam Presti, April 18, 2022.