The Thunder have spent Summer League getting beat up on the scoreboard, but one of the more interesting takeaways has nothing to do with the results in July. It has to do with Steven Ashworth, a name that had mostly faded from the national conversation since his March Madness run.
Ashworth made himself hard to ignore in Oklahoma City’s third game of the summer. The guard put up 14 points on 4-for-5 shooting, and every one of those attempts came from three-point range. He did it in just 15 minutes, and for a player getting his first real extended look with the team, that kind of burst stands out.
A roster spot still looks like a long shot, but the performance should buy him more run over the next few days.
There’s a reason Ashworth fits the Thunder’s current approach. He is not the usual upside swing.
At 6-feet and 26 years old, he is not the kind of prospect built around raw tools or long-term projection. But Oklahoma City is not shopping for teenage development projects right now.
The Thunder are in their championship window, and they already used two first-round picks on players over 20.
Ashworth brings something else: experience. He played five years in college, then spent all of last season in the G-League. That kind of background gives him a different kind of value, especially for a team looking for players who can step in without a long runway.
He also has a track record of production. In his final season at Creighton, Ashworth averaged 16.4 points and 6.8 assists.
The year before that, he was part of a strong Creighton core with Baylor Scheierman and Ryan Kalkbrenner, and that group helped push the school to a Sweet Sixteen appearance. Kalkbrenner and Scheierman have since carved out respectable NBA roles.
The Thunder’s injury history also makes Ashworth a more logical fit than he might seem at first glance. Two of their three ball handlers, Ajay Mitchell and Jalen Williams, missed large chunks of the 2025-26 season, and Oklahoma City’s Western Conference Finals loss was tied largely to that issue.
Ashworth is not being asked to become the next Mitchell off the bench. But he could be the kind of emergency point guard who can slide in and keep things moving if needed.
Last season, OKC’s two-way players did not make much of an imprint. Ashworth has a chance to change that if Mark Daigneault gives him the runway before summer ends.
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For Philadelphia, the appeal was not just about adding a star, but about making the math work without running into a messier future cap picture. Oklahoma City obviously was not shopping McCain with Brown in mind, but the deal helped create the kind of flexibility that can decide whether a blockbuster gets done, and that is the sort of behind-the-scenes impact the Thunder have been making more often than not. [Read more 🡒]
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Youngblood, though, has found a different opening with Portland. After being waived in February, he signed a two-way deal with the Trail Blazers and is expected to get meaningful minutes on their Summer League roster, a chance to show the kind of perimeter scoring that stood out in the G-League with the Rip City Remix, where he averaged 22 points while shooting 44.8% from three over seven games. For a player whose path never really opened in Oklahoma City, this is the sort of stage that can at least start to change the conversation. [Read more 🡒]
Spurs May Have Found An Edge Thunder Fans Wont Like
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For Oklahoma City, that is the part worth monitoring. The Thunder have built their rise around a young core and a deep roster, but the economics get tighter fast once multiple max-level deals start stacking up, and the league has a way of punishing even the best front offices when the bill comes due. If San Antonio can preserve its edge by thinking ahead on the cap, it only sharpens the challenge for a Thunder team that may have to navigate the same balancing act sooner than it would like. [Read more 🡒]