Ajay Mitchell’s rise in Oklahoma City has been one of the cleaner draft wins in recent Thunder memory, but the path could’ve bent in a very different direction on draft night.
The 24-year-old has gone from two-way project to an unexpected source of scoring punch for the Thunder, and in just two seasons he has climbed quickly inside the organization. He’s one of the rare two-way rookies who never spent time in the G League, and he ended up giving OKC a 14-point scorer who was arguably its best player in the Round 2 sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers.
Still, Mitchell made it clear that the 2024 NBA draft was far from settled for him. On 'The Old Man and The Three' podcast, he said there was a real chance he could have gone in the late first round and landed with a completely different team.
"My agent was like, ‘There’s a chance you get picked late first.’ Milwaukee had the 23rd pick," Mitchell said.
"I went in there. They really liked me.
My sister lived in Wisconsin. I could see that connection."
That almost put Mitchell in Milwaukee, a different conference and a different career path entirely. Instead, the Bucks went with AJ Johnson, leaving Mitchell and his family to ride out the emotional swing of draft night.
"I'm trying to be like, 'Ah, it's all good.' But in my head, I'm like, 'What?
No way!' It was awkward.
My whole family is pissed. My sister is so mad," Mitchell said.
"I'm like, 'Relax. We're good."
The Thunder eventually made the call that mattered most. After a flurry of Day 2 trades, they grabbed Mitchell with the No. 38 pick, using the first two-day draft in league history to move up the board and land him.
Since then, he’s become a real part of the rotation. And after a summer of cost-cutting moves, Oklahoma City is now leaning on him even more, with bigger offensive responsibilities waiting as he enters his third season.
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