The Thunder are heading into training camp with one of their biggest lineup questions already hanging in the air: who replaces Lu Dort in the starting five?
Right now, Cason Wallace looks like the man to beat.
Oklahoma City’s backcourt spot next to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is shaping up as a three-man fight involving Wallace, Ajay Mitchell, and Jared McCain. But Wallace brings the cleanest fit for what the Thunder need.
He can defend at the point of attack, he can knock down open shots, and he gives the lineup more flexibility on offense than Dort did. If he grows into the role the way OKC hopes, he could wind up being even better than Dort in that spot.
That’s not a small thing. The Thunder didn’t move on from Dort because they wanted to.
They traded him to avoid the second apron and keep their future books cleaner, knowing the roster is only going to get pricier. Oklahoma City is projected to be over the second apron in the 2027-28 season when Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s new deal kicks in, and that’s before factoring in a Wallace extension.
Dort was a great story in Oklahoma City and developed into an elite 3-and-D wing. Losing him hurts. But the Thunder are in the business of making hard choices, and they can’t keep everyone.
Wallace, though, gives them a strong answer. The 6-foot-3 guard is a better shooter than Dort and a better ball-handler, playmaker, and creator.
That opens more doors for the offense, even if he doesn’t bring Dort’s ability to scale up defensively across the lineup. Still, OKC doesn’t need him to be a carbon copy.
It needs someone who can defend, hit open looks, and keep the machine moving.
Mitchell has a case too. He broke out in his second NBA season and looks like he could become a star.
He wants more responsibility, and he’ll get more time on the ball if he comes off the bench. That’s where he makes the most sense, especially with SGA and J-Dub handling so much of the creation in the starting group.
Mitchell’s offense-first game fits best as a sixth man.
McCain adds another wrinkle. He’s an elite shooter and gives the Thunder some useful depth, but the defense just isn’t there yet for a starting job. Head coach Mark Daigneault will give him a chance to win the role, but McCain seems more likely to flank Mitchell in the second unit.
Wallace’s defensive résumé is already strong. He was second-team All-Defense last season and finished seventh in Defensive Player of the Year voting while playing just 26.6 minutes per game.
The idea of giving him 30-plus minutes a night only raises the ceiling. He’s the kind of guard who can wear on opponents, and he’s shown enough flashes whenever his role expands to suggest there’s more in there.
So yes, this is a real camp battle. Daigneault should keep an open mind, and if Mitchell or McCain shows a new level, the picture changes. But as things stand, Wallace has the early edge - and he looks like the best fit to start and finish games for a Thunder team loaded with offensive firepower.
Fans should be watching closely. The change is coming, and somebody has to seize it.
In Other News...
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Russell Westbrooks retirement announcement on Aug. 12 brought a full-circle moment for anyone who watched the Thunder rise from young upstarts to a Western Conference force. Westbrook spent his first 11 NBA seasons in Oklahoma City, piling up an MVP award and multiple All-Star selections while helping define the franchises most memorable era. It also drew a familiar response from one of his closest former teammates, Serge Ibaka, who publicly congratulated him and looked back on their years together.
For Thunder fans, Ibakas tribute carries extra weight because it points straight back to that core group that once made Oklahoma City feel like a contender every night. Westbrooks career was always bigger than one team, but his Oklahoma City chapter remains the one most closely tied to the Thunders identity, and messages like Ibakas only deepen that connection. [Read more 🡒]
Thunder Fans Will Circle These Painful 2026-27 Reunion Games
The NBAs full 2026-27 regular season schedule is out, and Oklahoma City again finds itself in the spotlight with 30 nationally televised games. For a franchise coming off a championship run, that kind of national attention is part reward, part reminder of how far the Thunder have climbed. It also means plenty of dates will be marked on the calendar well before opening night, especially the ones that bring back familiar faces who helped shape the title season.
Among the most emotional stops on the schedule are the home matchups against Atlanta and Detroit, where former Thunder contributors Lu Dort, Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe will return in different uniforms after recent trades for future second-round picks. All three were part of Oklahoma Citys 2025 championship team and were widely seen as examples of the organizations development machine at work, so their returns figure to carry a little extra weight for fans who watched them grow here. The exact order of the season will sort itself out soon enough, but these reunions already stand out as the kind that linger. [Read more 🡒]