A lot of Cleveland Browns fans wanted GM Andrew Berry fired a few years ago, but after a couple of impressive drafts, things are looking up and there is genuine excitement around the organization. He recently made a monstrous decision by sending franchise icon and single-season sack record holder Myles Garrett to the Los Angeles Rams for Jared Verse, a 2027 first-round pick, and two other high draft picks.
It’s not often you see a GM receive little criticism for dealing away a player as good as Garrett, but Berry has mostly received praise for his timing and the fact that the team got such a strong return. After how well he did trading down in each of the past two first rounds of the draft, he is now on an impressive roll, which apparently could be due to the help of an unlikely friend.
The Oklahoma City Thunder are the reigning NBA champions for at least a few more days largely thanks to the work of their forward-thinking GM, Sam Presti, who has stockpiled a ton of draft capital over the years which eventually materialized into one of the deepest young teams in the sport. NFL insider Albert Breer recently shared that Berry consulted Presti prior to the Garrett trade and received some interesting feedback into his trade years back for now two-time NBA MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
“The craziest thing in this whole process, Andrew Berry consulted Sam Presti from the Oklahoma City Thunder about a big trade like this, and Sam Presti said a huge reason they made that trade with the Clippers is because they viewed Shai as a guy that they were a lot higher on than everybody else. The immediate comparison drawn is that Jared Verse being Shai Gilgeous-Alexander,” Loeb said.
Andrew Berry saw Jared Verse as Cleveland’s SGA 👀 https://t.co/9Ww8UY822M pic.twitter.com/dbDmsUnpWJ
— Max Loeb (@loebsleads) June 5, 2026
Years ago, Presti traded superstar forward Paul George to the Los Angeles Clippers to team up with Kawhi Leonard so they could chase a championship. In return, he received a young SGA, Danilo Gallinari, five first-round picks and two pick swaps, which is a haul that is still paying incredible dividends to this day while the Clippers reached just one Conference Finals in George’s tenure.
A lot of people around the NFL are incredibly high on Verse, and it’s easy to see why. He has been a monster over his first two years and could easily turn into a double-digit sack threat in 2026 as he now steps into a prominent role in Mike Rutenberg’s defense as soon as he gets his jersey number controversy sorted out, of course.
Presti is regarded as arguably the NBA’s best GM, so it’s encouraging to see Berry consulting with a talent like that. The Garrett trade is absolutely something Presti would have done, and we’ll see if it turns out as well for the Browns as the SGA trade did for the Thunder.
NEXT: Insider Puts Andrew Berry's Future With Browns In A New Light
