Jared McCain has already made an impression in Oklahoma City, but his stay with the Thunder may end up being shorter than plenty of fans hoped.
The reason is simple: the roster is getting crowded in all the wrong places. Sam Presti and the Thunder spent the offseason making a series of moves to stay away from the second apron, and that squeeze could push McCain toward the exit before long. With the backcourt packed and the front office also needing to keep an eye on future deals for Cason Wallace and Ajay Mitchell, McCain looks more like a movable piece than a long-term lock.
That’s where the timing starts to work against him. By the end of the 2027-28 season, Mitchell, Wallace, and McCain will all be due for new contracts, with Wallace’s deal coming up after next season. Wallace and Mitchell have already separated themselves as the more essential pieces, which makes McCain the most vulnerable of the three.
His time in Oklahoma City has been useful, though. The former Philadelphia 76er brought real pop off the bench after being traded by the Sixers in just his second season following injuries.
He gave the second unit a different gear, using constant off-ball movement and secondary ball-handling to create offense. In his short stint with Philadelphia, he shot 8.0 threes and averaged 17.3 points per 75 possessions.
Still, the limitations are hard to ignore. At 6-foot-2 with a 6-foot-3-and-a-half wingspan, McCain has had to fight uphill against bigger lineups, and that showed up in the playoffs.
He shot just 36.6 percent in the Western Conference Finals this past year, and the San Antonio Spurs’ large guard rotations also put him in tough spots defensively. That kind of profile can make a long-term commitment hard to justify.
Meanwhile, the Thunder have reasons to lean elsewhere. Lugeuntz Dort is now gone, and Cason Wallace is in line to take on a full-time starting role after his 2026 playoff run. Wallace’s case is strong: he posted a plus-7.5 relative true shooting percentage, shot over 48.0 percent from deep, and finished with the second-highest NET rating among the core rotation, with a minimum of 300 minutes.
Ajay Mitchell has also pushed himself into must-keep territory. In his sophomore season, he was arguably the best player in a playoff series.
Against the Los Angeles Lakers, he averaged 22.5 points, shot over 56 percent from the field, and logged a 24.9 NET rating in the series. His growth as a shot creator and on-ball player, paired with high-level perimeter defense, makes him look close to a blank check once his current deal expires.
The arrival of rookie Bennett Stirtz only adds another layer to the decision. McCain’s shooting and secondary playmaking mattered when OKC acquired him at the deadline, but Stirtz gives the team a longer-term option with similar offensive traits and better defensive dimensions. The Iowa point guard averaged nearly 20 points per game, hit a high volume of self-created threes, and ran the pick-and-roll at a high level, with Iowa scoring 1.11 points per possession when he was the passer.
The size difference matters, too. Stirtz has a 6-foot-6 wingspan, 2.5 inches longer than McCain’s, and that extra reach changes things on defense and as a facilitator. He’s also under contract until 2030, which gives Oklahoma City more time before a second payday becomes an issue.
That’s why McCain may wind up as the piece that helps the Thunder solve a different problem. The roster still needs help at forward, and even before the departures of Lu Dort and Aaron Wiggins, the team was thin there, with Jalen Williams as the only true forward left. McCain’s youth and offensive skill set should make him attractive around the league, and Oklahoma City could use that value to chase a depth forward.
Names such as Naji Marshall, Herbert Jones, and Royce O'Neale are presented as realistic fits, and all of them would bring size, defense, and floor spacing. The age gap also leaves room for picks to be included, and Oklahoma City has three first-round picks in 2027 if it wants to make a bigger swing around the trade deadline or near the 2027 Draft. A multi-team deal could give the Thunder the flexibility to make the money work.
McCain may not be built to stay in Oklahoma City forever, but he has already given the team something valuable: a reminder of how much offensive juice he can provide when the fit is right.
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For Oklahoma City, the appeal is straightforward: McCain gives them another player who can stretch the floor and add points without needing the ball to dominate possessions. His role figures to be tied closely to how the Thunder fill the openings left by other offensive pieces, and that makes his fit more than just a nice bonus heading into the new season. [Read more 🡒]
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For Utah, the timing matters because the next step is no longer about development alone. Team president Austin Ainge framed the move as a way to let George focus on winning and help push the Jazz toward playoff relevance, which puts a spotlight on how much more responsibility he is expected to carry. He was the 16th overall pick in 2023, and after the stop-start beginning to his career, the organization is asking him to turn promise into something much harder to ignore. [Read more 🡒]