Sam Presti sums up in one sentence why Suns won’t win championship for long time

The Oklahoma City Thunder are thr toast of the NBA world right now, and their General Manager Sam Presti finally has a championship after over a decade of trying to build a team the right way. There's no doubt he's the best in the league at his job, and is the kind of GM the Phoenix Suns could only dream of having to fix their own mess.

Kevin Durant might have left the building - and if the Suns are lucky Bradley Beal might just follow him - but the problems run deeper than that in Phoenix. Owner Mat Ishbia is as involved as ever in the running of the franchise it seems, and his hiring of former Michigan State members Brian Gregory (GM) and Jordan Ott (head coach) is as unsurprising as it is worrying.

Presti sums up why team like Suns won't win it all for a long time.

In the aftermath of the Thunder's Game 7 win over the Indiana Pacers - and really at many points throughout their journey - Presti was asked what it takes to build a winner. Something he continues to preach is the fact that in the league today, depth is required to win big. Yes it also helps having the current MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, but we all know the Thunder are much more than that.

They not only drafted their second and third best players - Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren - but most of their roster was brought to Oklahoma City through the draft. A crazy stat that began appearing after their title win was the fact that a whopping five second-round picks and three undrafted players in their rotation. That's how you build out a roster.

The final pieces to the puzzle were signing center Isaiah Hartenstein in free agency to address their lack of size inside, and then giving up a valuable young player in Josh Giddey in order to bring in the veteran Alex Caruso. If you look at the Suns and how they've tried to build a team since Ishbia took over, they have literally done the opposite of the Thunder, so it is no surprise they're languishing.

They got rid of their depth and future in Mikal Bridges, Cameron Johnson and a ton of first round picks to bring in Durant, while Deandre Ayton and Chris Paul were moved quickly as well. This was to assemble a trio of stars - Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal - but it was obvious quickly that they had zero help behind them.

Jusuf Nurkic was lumbering big man while Grayson Allen was somehow their third best player the first year that the star trio were together. Contrast that with the Thunder - and even the Boston Celtics the year before that - who had a pair of stars and a lot more help around them to get over the hump. There is no quick fix for the Suns on this either, and they're trying to figure this out on the fly.

Right now you could make the case they have one star (Booker), and no real depth around him. Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks will surely help, but Presti's words are going to haunt the Suns for years to come. They won't come close to a championship until they can get out of the second apron, and build a roster the correct way around Booker. You will be waiting a long time for this to actually happen.