Over the summer, the Thunder melted down two talented players and flipped them into enough draft picks to start a brand-new franchise. The writing was on the wall after an unspirited first-round playoffs exit versus the Portland Trailblazers, but it's wild to enter the 2019-20 NBA season where the most famous returning player is Steven Adams. Granted, Hornets legend Chris Paul will be returning to OKC, but the rumor mill is already churning with stories about how the Thunder is looking to dump him ASAP.
Knowing all that, it's both weird and oddly fitting that the biggest news coming from the OKC Thunder's media day was general manager Sam Presti showing up with a beard:
This seems trivial, but there's a lot to break down here:
- This is a guy who is always meticulously groomed and clean shaven. As a guy that decides one or twice a year to cut off my beard and then just grows it back out because that's how living with depression works, I relate with Sam, but am highly suspect of what's going on behind the scenes. This isn't a classic baseball 'playoff beard,' this is a man who has possibly had a Coor's Banquet as breakfast in bed recently. Maybe I'm projecting.
- He's got a lot of gray hairs, which isn't unusual for a 42 year-old man, but his hair is still perfect. Is he dying it, or is his stress manifesting itself purely through his facial hair? Personally, I think men look good as silver foxes, so I hope he just lets it go natural.
- What local IPA is he arguing with the bartender about in this picture? Presti has magically morphed from looking like a guy who only drank LaCroix to the dude who tries to educate the bartender about his favorite rare wheated bourbon.
We're not going to pass judgement on his new look. Personally, I think he looks pretty handsome with the beard and pulls it off well. It's just strange, like when you were little and your dad decided to grow one out and it was just kinda creepy.
Either way, Sam's beard is defines the energy of Thunder fans all across the state going into the next season. We're all exasperated, exhausted, and ready to just put the past behind us and move forward.
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