Presti says Reggie Jackson is a ‘core member’ and hasn’t considered trading him

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Thunder fans have been down this road before, and the wounds still haven’t healed, it seems. A critical bench player eligible for an extension, but the Oct. 31 deadline rapidly approaching and no real progress made towards one.

Reggie Jackson’s situation isn’t exactly comparable to James Harden’s, mainly because the dollars don’t align. But the idea is the same: Fail to extend him now and run the risk of the market swallowing him whole next summer and making it impossible to keep him. Which brings in the same potential with Jackson as what happened with Harden: sell high while you can.

But at his preseason media availability, Sam Presti repeated the same refrain about Jackson, saying there has been no consideration to trade him if no deal gets done with the plan remaining to revisit next summer.

“We don’t look at him as anything other than a core member,” Presti said. “We want to invest in Reggie. There’s not a lack of clarity in that regard. Figuring out how best we do that is my job. And I’m going to do everything I can because I believe that he’s a great example of a lot of things that we try to do here. He was drafted, he’s been developed by our coaches and our support staff and the next step is to keep him with us for a long time.

“That’s just not something we’ve considered,” Presti said about the possibility of a trade. “I  think with him in particular he’s a guy we see being here for a long time. It may not be something we get solved in October but the system is set up to try and give you an early opportunity to do that and we’ll try to take advantage of that. We want to get things done in advance if possible, but if not, we’ll pick it up next season and do it in earnest again.”

The factor that clouds the situation most is Jackson’s stated desire to be a starter. Jackson started three straight games against the Spurs in the Western Conference finals as a shooting guard, as well as 36 times in the regular season while Russell Westbrook was out with his knee issues.

“I definitely want to be a starter in this league,” he told Darnell Mayberry in August. “I don’t think about ever coming off the bench for any team. If that’s the role I’m put in, that’s what I’m put in. But since the day I thought about playing in the NBA, I’ve always been a starter. Everything I’ve thought about, whether it be middle school, high school, kids leagues, I never envisioned coming off the bench.”

Presti was unmoved by Jackson’s comments.

“I wouldn’t characterize it as troubling at all,” he said. “It would be troubling to me if he wasn’t confident in himself and didn’t see himself as a very important player to this team. At the same time, we’ve never, ever, in our history here, had a situation where any issues regarding what’s most important. And the most important thing, once training camp starts, is winning. And focusing on how you contribute, what your contributions are, and how you best can be maximized by the decisions the coaching staff make. I would be surprised if Reggie is focused on anything other than how he best impacts this particular team.”

But there’s really no sensible way Jackson can start now, without compromising the team’s core starting values of defense and size at each position. Presti said Thursday the team is going to keep a “defensive disposition” with the starting five and indicated that the player that provides the best defense at shooting guard will likely start. And that’s probably not going to be Jackson.

The way things sounded on Thursday though, it seems unlikely an extension is reached before the Oct. 31 deadline. The sides are talking amicably, which is a change from Harden’s negotiations. It’s just that the market will most likely determine Jackson’s value next summer. Eric Bledsoe’s recent max deal probably perked Jackson’s ears, as well as the overload of money spent this summer on free agents. It could be piling the dollars up on Jackson’s value, and thereby, taking him out of OKC’s price range.

“Those are free agent contracts,” Presti said of the recent free agent spending. “What we’re looking to do is an extension and I think if we don’t get an extension done this fall then we roll into free agency and every year is different in that respect.

“We’re going to give it our maximum, best chance to make it happen, knowing that if it doesn’t, we come back at it next summer and pick it up again,” he said. “If it doesn’t happen, all it means is it hasn’t happened yet and we’re looking to continue to progress in those conversations.”