The Thunder keep stacking young talent, but one newcomer may be best positioned to crack the rotation right away.
Sam Vecenie of The Athletic singled out Bennett Stirtz as the rookie most likely to carve out a consistent role for Oklahoma City heading into the 2026-27 season. On a recent episode of the Game Theory Podcast, Vecenie pointed to the 16th overall pick in June’s NBA Draft as the clearest candidate to contribute early, especially with the Thunder’s backcourt history of injuries creating openings for whoever is ready to step in.
"We've seen previously that if one of their ball handlers goes down, they've needed another one. Stirtz would at least be able to kind of buoy that creation ability on top of being a lights-out shooter off the catch," Vecenie said.
That line of thinking fits the way Oklahoma City has operated before. When injuries hit the guard group, the Thunder have leaned hard on the next man up, and Isaiah Joe was a prime example last season. From late January through early March, while Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Ajay Mitchell were dealing with long-standing injuries, Joe became a featured offensive option over a 20-game stretch and averaged 13.7 points and 2.9 rebounds while shooting 41.5 percent from three.
With Joe now gone, and Aaron Wiggins and Lu Dort also out of the mix, Stirtz doesn’t have much standing between him and a meaningful role in that backcourt support system. His profile makes the fit easy to see.
A first-round pick in this year’s draft, Stirtz arrives with the kind of shooting résumé that invites the Isaiah Joe comparison. The 22-year-old just finished a First-team All-Big Ten season at Iowa, where he averaged 19.8 points per game and shot 47.7 percent from the field and 35.8 percent from deep. He also hit about 52 percent of his catch-and-shoot attempts, a number that jumps off the page for a player expected to thrive without needing the ball in his hands all the time.
Add in Oklahoma City’s recent injury issues in the backcourt and Mark Daigneault’s frequent use of three-guard lineups, and it’s easy to understand why Vecenie sees Stirtz as a rookie who could get real run quickly.
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