Even though his team is constructed to not only compete this year but for the next several seasons to come, general manager Sam Presti of the Oklahoma City Thunder finished outside of the top three vote getters for the NBA Executive of the Year Award. Instead, the honor went to the Indiana Pacers' Larry Bird for his work in building the Pacers to a contender in the Eastern Conference.
According to Ben Golliver of CBS Sports, "Bird beat out San Antonio Spurs executive R.C. Buford, Los Angeles Clippers executive Neil Olshey, Chicago Bulls executive Gar Forman and Utah Jazz executive Kevin O'Connor for the honor."
Presti was named among with "others receiving votes" which means that most likely believed his best work had come in previous seasons. Yet interestingly enough, Presti has never won the award despite having the best overall core of players in the NBA locked up for the foreseeable future.