Ever watched a sports game and thought that ‘Was the sport all there was to these stars’ lives while growing up’? Well, the answer to that is ‘Certainly not’. Many renowned sports personalities lived a completely different life, holding different interests, before they got to the field that made them famous. Steve Buscemi was a firefighter at 9/11, Conor McGregor was a plumber, and Pascal Siakam was initially studying in Cameroon to become a Catholic priest.

As an NBA and Oklahoma City Thunder fan, it would be hard not to feel amazed at the man that is Sam Presti. With over a quarter century worth of work experience in the front office of 3 different teams, the 47-year-old holds a strong reputation within the league for his drafting and trading acumen. Along with encouraging the Spurs to draft Tony Parker, Presti was also instrumental in drafting Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden in consecutive years to form a core that led OKC to the NBA Finals for the first time. These facts make it all the more interesting that Sam Presti could have missed out on all this if he had gone serious about his other interest in life: Rap.

The GM of an NBA team is a rapper? Well, if your curiosity is ignited, then read on to find out more.

Is Sam Presti a rapper?

Saying that Sam Presti is ‘still’ a rapper would not be the truth. After all, the GM’s rap career only went on till his college days.

The brief career was touched upon during a recent segment of the ‘Pablo Torre Finds Out’ podcast. The host had uncovered a 1998 jazz-rap album titled ‘Milk Money’. As it turns out, it was written and produced by Sam Presti himself when he was still at Emerson College pursuing his Bachelor of Science degree in Communications, Politics, and Law with a minor in Psychology. The album cover featured Presti himself, along with his name, wearing shorts and standing in an environment that gave off mid-90s vibes. Well, with so many clues, it wouldn’t have been too hard to put two and two together. Then again, no one would be expecting to find a rap album featuring the GM of an NBA team.

According to The Oklahoman, the album was an eight-track project released through Relativity Records. The label is known for previously boasting big artists like Common, Fat Joe, and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony.

How did Sam Presti’s ‘Milk Money’ make headlines 26 years later?

In 2025 “Milk Money” had leaked online, but was removed shortly afterwards. During the episode of his podcast, Pablo Torre spoke with attorney and OKC fan Dara Mirzaie, from whom he had obtained the album. He revealed that, about seven or eight years ago, he visited some music shops while on vacation around the Boston area. He found the album in an extensive discount bin of CDs, filled with bands no one had ever heard of.

“And so, I was looking through them, and all of a sudden, I stumbled across one and I thought ‘oh this is funny. This guy has the same name as the Thunder GM” Mirzaie recalled. “I picked it up, and it was obviously a really old cd. And so, I figured it was some local musician from 20 years ago, and so I just bought it. I mean, i’ve bought CDs for worse reasons before”. It wasn’t until Mirzaie put the CD in, heard the voice, and put two and two together.

Mirzaie revealed that, a couple of years ago, he had tried to put the album on YouTube. Just as it started getting some views, the attorney recalled that “a couple days later, I kind of just started getting some messages of just some people asking me to sort of take it down. So eventually, I did. Mirzaie did not know who it was, and only revealed they sent messages like ‘Hey, should this really be out there? This was kind of something he did when he was young’”. While he doesn’t have any proof, Mirzaie believes “it felt like it was someone who kind of might have known sam, or was in their camp, and just like not really sure if we want that out there”. Mysterious, indeed.

Was that the only music album Sam Presti released?

Believe it or not, but ‘Milk Money’ was the first of 2 albums that the OKC GM released during his college days. Just like the first one, this also couldn’t stay hidden. Back in January 2015, ‘The Lost Ogle’ founder Patrick Riley revealed that a sports radio host from Dallas named Jeff Wade had gotten his hands on a CD Sam Presti released back in 1999. Almost one year before Presti began his internship with the San Antonio Spurs, which began his now-flourishing NBA career.

The album, titled ‘All Things Considered’, highlighted Presti as the musician and producer. From the cover art, it did not seem to be a compilation of rap tracks, but rather some drumline music. It’s hard to know exactly the contents of the album since, as Patrick Riley revealed, he searched “long and hard on the internet to find a copy of Presti’s ‘All Things Considered’”, but the effort was in vain. Well, if ‘Milk Money’ popped up in a random Boston store, this one will also turn up somewhere.

Sam Presti might be just another perfect example of “You think you know someone”. This just goes on to show what mysteries one person carries. With any luck, Sam Presti chooses to speak out on his music career. If not, that still won’t stop the others from digging.