When Thunder GM Sam Presti began pursuing Nenad Krstic, he knew he faced two challenges: getting his owners to fork over $500,000 to Krstic’s Russian team and playing poker with Rod Thorn. He didn’t want Thorn to match OKC’s $15.8 million offer. The first turned out to be easy and Presti correctly figured that the Nets were so enamored with 20-year-old Brook Lopez they would pass on 25-year-old Krstic.
