Hoop dreams: Sam Presti’s ride from CCHS to NBA crown
A 1995 graduate of CCHS, Presti said he “never would have been” who he is today without his Acton influences.
On the night the Oklahoma City Thunder won the NBA championship, John McNamara’s phone pinged. A familiar number showed up.
Sam Presti, who captained the Acton-Carlisle High School basketball team under then-coach McNamara, and who is now the Thunder’s executive vice president and general manager, was texting to say thanks.
“He reached out and said he was grateful for the role I played in his life,” McNamara said of Presti. “He has a lot of integrity. [He] lets others share in his success.”
A 1995 graduate of CCHS, Presti said he “never would have been” who he is today without his Acton influences.
“I’m a product of all those people who have helped me along the way,” Presti told The Acton Bridge in a phone conversation. “I knew long before how fortunate I was to have this many relationships and such a great community to grow up [in].”
Strong connections
Presti came to basketball late; in his early years, he played baseball at Emerson and Rideout.
During his sophomore year, his interest shifted to basketball.
“There were a smattering of hidden basketball courts in and around Acton,” he said. “A lot of my youth was spent bouncing around from one to another.”
Being the Patriots’ captain, he said, was “everything.”
“I was so [happy] to play with my friends and represent the town,” he said. “I really took that seriously.”
Presti noted special education teacher Harriet Stevens among his influences.
“Harriet was more than a teacher for me,” Presti said. “She was an encourager and a source of confidence. [She] met me where I was and she stayed with me.”
“I’m so privileged to be Sam’s friend and a mentor of some sort,” Stevens said. “It’s not often teachers have the pleasure of seeing the results of their labor, so to speak. It’s a very unusual event, and [it] makes me very happy.”
‘Confidence of ignorance’
Presti never imagined a career in pro sports. His ambitions were a bit smaller — he thought that after college, he could perhaps coach his hometown team.
“I would have been thrilled with that,” he said, “but there’s no way I could have done as a good a job as Dave Cohen.”
Cohen, who attended Game 7, is the CCHS girls basketball coach and former boys coach.
“Sam has made me a better coach, because he inspires me to keep learning and growing and trying to be more in the future than I am today,” he told The Bridge via email.
In 2007, Presti was named the Seattle SuperSonics’ general manager at age 29, the second-youngest person to hold that title. The following year, the Sonics moved to Oklahoma City.
Presti’s remarkable career includes the Thunder’s record-setting 2024-25 season, which culminated in the Game 7 NBA Finals win over the Indiana Pacers on June 22 — the franchise’s first championship in almost 50 years. As GM, he brought NBA Finals Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to Oklahoma City.
Just this week, Presti signed Gilgeous-Alexander to a multi-year contract extension — a key “get” for the GM.
About his success, Presti said he has had the “confidence of ignorance” on his side.
“I’ve always felt that when you’re early in anything, you have to operate off instincts,” he said. “If your instincts are good, you can gain experience. And if you can make something of the experiences, then ultimately you can achieve some level of wisdom.”
Building opportunities
Today, Presti still counts his high school METCO teammates among his closest friends.
“I got a deep appreciation for the challenges of going to school from Boston,” he said. The players “were sleeping at my house like the whole basketball season, because it was just too late for them to go [home].”
In 2020, Presti and childhood friend Mike Johnson, who lived in West Acton, founded Thunder Fellows, which provides opportunities in sports, entertainment, and technology for Black high school and college students in Tulsa.
The men met on Emerson Playground playing football, and Presti didn’t shy away from asking questions about how Johnson’s experience as a Black student differed from Presti’s own.
“The origin of the [Thunder Fellows] program is having a relationship based on time and trust, sharing perspectives on cultural realities, and then getting to the output that meant something,” Johnson said.
The program just celebrated its fifth year.
“Sam was always [saying], ‘What can we do that’s long-lasting?’” Johnson said. “Having that long-term approach to it has been incredible.”
‘Connected to the town’
Presti often returns to Acton for weeks in the summer. His children attend local programs, and he volunteers at the CCHS Patriots summer basketball camp.
“I’m not surprised that he comes back to Acton,” Presti’s former Little League coach (and longtime Acton Bridge columnist) Ken Anderson said in an email. “[Sam] remains connected to the town and many of his friends from those days.”
Graham McKee is one of those basketball campers.
“He taught me that nobody can tell me what I can or can’t do,” Graham said. “Just keep going at it.”
Presti’s proud he’s from Acton.
“I really am grateful for the experiences that I was afforded by growing up there,” he said.
“I love being at those camps, and I love driving by Emerson Playground in the summer and seeing two kids from the basketball team out there working out. I’m always going to stop, jump out, and watch or give some pointers. That really fills my cup.”
