Patrick Dumont If you look at the greats in the league the people you and I grew up with Jordan Bird Kobe Shaq they worked really hard every day with a singular focus to win And if you dont have that it doesnt work you shouldnt be part of the Dallas Mavericks

Sam Presti isn't worried about Chet Holmgren If you go back and look at some of the greatest players of the game they all have these moments where they run into defeat or struggle That's what makes them great players is that they're able to continue to move on from that and improve

Pelinka What did those teams Detroit San Antonio and OKC have to go through to build through the draft Multiple seasons of losses and that is just not part of our infrastructure here As much as some of us might want it to be that way its not the Lakers way

Sam Presti In this job as a leader what you want to do is build teams that you wish you could have been a part of and I feel that way about this era of the Thunder

Masai Ujiri Youve got Wembanyama Luka Shai Anthony Edwards and Nikola Jokic all for the next 7-15 years Okay now you have to convince me that I have to beat all those guys You gotta come with something in your pocket okay and in his pocket he had Cooper Flagg

Kendrick Perkins A Donovan Mitchell led team has never been to a conference finalsWhen you're trying to make a deep run in the postseason the only thing that matters is that locker room You've gotta have that dawg mentality and you've gotta want it

Sam Presti I'm more or less made a career from listening to people much smarter than meHe lists people he learned from Steve Kerr Stephon Jackson Malik Rose Manu Ginobili Kendrick Perkins Chris Paul and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander