If Luka on the pod felt like a moment, this one just changed the game. LeBron James and Steve Nash pulled none other than Kevin Durant onto Mind The Game—yes, right after KD inked that Rockets deal. Call it King behavior, call it Nasher magic, call it whatever you want. But when you’ve got those three in one room? That’s not a podcast, that’s a therapy session for hoop heads. And KD? He came ready. Wine glass or not, Bron let him cook. This time, Durant opened up on his Thunder years—and why things went sideways. Real talk. No filters.
Their big three was too iconic for Presti to handle. The cracks started in 2012, when OKC traded James Harden to dodge luxury-tax penalties. GM Sam Presti didn’t even loop Durant in. KD felt blindsided—like a ghost in his own locker room. That was the beginning of the end. Durant wanted input. The front office gave him silence. Tensions built fast, especially with Westbrook’s high-usage style clashing with Durant’s smooth scoring rhythm. KD vented privately to Presti. Nothing changed. Meanwhile, Presti publicly called him a “founding father.” Nice words, but the vibe was off. Durant felt like a passenger, not a co-pilot.
Then came 2016—the ultimate unraveling. The Thunder blew a 3–1 lead to the Warriors in the West Conference finals only to lose 4-3 at the end of Game 7. KD dipped. He didn’t want to re-sign just to repeat the same heartbreak. So he joined the very team that beat them. Presti stayed respectful but didn’t budge on his approach. Cost control and front-office authority stayed king. Durant wanted a say, a seat at the table. Instead, he packed his bags for Golden State. That exit ended an era and launched a rebuild. For the Thunder, it was a hard reset. For Presti, a defining moment. But for KD? Just the first chapter of a wild second act.
June 4, 2012; San Antonio, TX, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guards James Harden (13) and Russell Westbrook (center) and forward Kevin Durant (35) react against the San Antonio Spurs during the second half in game five of the Western Conference finals of the 2012 NBA playoffs at the AT&T Center. Oklahoma City beat San Antonio 108-106. Mandatory Credit: Brendan Maloney-USA TODAY Sports
“I don’t know exactly what Sam was thinking or the owner, but my theory is that I don’t think they were ready exactly for us to be contenders every year. Since we reached the finals, you’re to upgrade and fine-tune and make changes around instead of – you can’t just pull one of the key figures of your team off the team and expect us to continue what we was doing. So I just think they were kind of shocked at how good we got so fast,” said KD on Mind the Game.
To be honest, all’s well that ends well. Kevin Durant‘s on his way to a real championship roster – been a long time coming. But when it comes to the current championship-winning roster, their recent waves got everyone drowning. By the way, that includes Shai Gilgeous-Alexander too – it’s just that he’ll be drowning in dollar bills for the rest of his life.
Details of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s whopping $364 million contract
Shai was confirmed to have signed a fresh, 4-year, $285 million contract with the Thunder earlier tonight. There’s not even a surprise at this point – the MVP deserved to be the highest-paid athlete in NBA history. But that’s not even the tip of the iceberg. He’d have made a mental $364 million by the end of his contract, which is sure to set him up for the next few generations. Let’s break it down, shall we?
The kid has just made history—literally. The Thunder star locked in a monster supermax extension that kicks off in 2027–28, starting at $63.5M and ballooning to nearly $79M by 2030–31. That’s a projected cap-based deal with the highest per-year average salary the league has ever seen. Yep, ever. It tacks onto the $79.1M still left on his current contract, making it a six-year megadeal that cements his spot as OKC’s franchise centerpiece.
SGA becomes just the 15th player in NBA history to sign a supermax, joining elite company. The OKC Thunder clearly aren’t messing around—they’re building their empire around their calm, calculated killer. And with numbers like those, he’s not just cashing in—he’s cashing out as one of the most valuable guards in the game.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander breakdown
Including his current and new extension, $364M in salary over the next 6 years. pic.twitter.com/OCwBu2aOYK
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) July 1, 2025
Watching prime Kevin Durant ball it out with prime SGA in the same colors would’ve been a sight to see for sure. Maybe it wasn’t destined. But did you see KD’s career going differently if Sam Presti and Co. got their act together in the OKC primetime with Harden and Westbrook?
The post Kevin Durant Calls Out Sam Presti’s Past Mistakes Amid Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s $364M Contract News appeared first on EssentiallySports.