The Oklahoma City Thunder can keep reshaping the roster and still look absurdly deep on paper. That’s the backdrop as they head toward 2026-27, a season that could turn on which young player takes the biggest leap after a summer of change.
Oklahoma City dealt Isaiah Joe, Aaron Wiggins and Lu Dort for draft capital, a move that trimmed a combined $224 million in payroll and luxury tax. With All-Star Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams already on max deals, the Thunder chose financial flexibility over standing pat. And if Holmgren comes back with something to prove after his four-point outing in the Spurs series, the middle of the roster gets even more crowded.
That’s where the young names come in. Ajay Mitchell and Cason Wallace are set for bigger jobs with Dort gone, while Jared McCain looks like the natural Joe replacement.
Jaylin Williams will keep backing up Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein, and veterans like Alex Caruso and Kenrich Williams can cover a lot of ground. Still, Oklahoma City has lived with injuries before, and if that happens again, Mark Daigneault may have to lean on a few younger pieces sooner than expected.
Aday Mara looks like the most obvious candidate to force his way into the picture. The Thunder’s 12th overall pick in this year’s draft flashed the kind of profile that gets coaches’ attention fast: a 7-foot-3 center with scoring touch, great hands and real rim protection. His passing, defense and work on the glass make him look like a backup center of the future, even if the talk about him being a Victor Wembanyama stopper is way ahead of schedule.
What Mara did in summer league only strengthened that case. He put up 9.2 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.8 blocks over five games, showing enough raw ability to suggest he could stick sooner rather than later.
He also showed the kind of vision that can change the feel of a second unit offense. That matters on a team that can already pair Ajay Mitchell’s scoring with Caruso and McCain on the perimeter.
A little high-low action with a big who can pass from that kind of angle? That’s a wrinkle worth watching.
The question is whether Mara can even start taking minutes from Jaylin Williams as the backup anchor. The answer might be yes.
Nikola Topic is another name to keep close. With Joe, Wiggins and Dort out of the way, the backcourt opens up a little more, and Topic already gave the Thunder a look at what he can do as a playmaking guard who attacks the rim.
He was selected 12th overall in 2024, the first of four Thunder first-round picks in three years, before Thomas Sorber in 2025 and Mara plus Bennett Stirtz in 2026. Topic’s path has not been smooth - he recovered from a torn ACL before a testicular cancer diagnosis in 2025, then dealt with another setback this summer when a minimally invasive lower back procedure knocked him out of summer league after his NBA debut in 2025-26.
Even so, there was enough there last season to keep the optimism alive. Topic averaged 5.2 points and 4.4 assists in 10 outings, and Oklahoma City should have a clearer read on him once training camp arrives. ESPN’s Ben Golliver summed up the situation well, noting:
“After the Thunder felt compelled by financial reasons to trade away some of their depth this summer - losing Dort, Wiggins and Joe in the process - they'll be a bit more reliant on the youngsters to help them get through next season. To be clear, Oklahoma City would still rank among the title favorites even if none of these four recent first-round picks plays a single playoff minute; the Thunder still go 10-deep in quality players without them,” Golliver said.
“But the Thunder would surely like to see meaningful youth development to help in both the short term - to keep those 10 established contributors fresh in the regular season - and the long term - when a further financial crunch will likely strip away even more depth.
Then there’s Brooks Barnhizer, whose path is a little different but just as interesting. His best raw line came in a 127-107 loss to the Nuggets in the second-to-last game of the regular season, when he posted 14 points, nine rebounds and two steals.
But the performance that probably stuck with the Thunder most came on February 4 in San Antonio. With Holmgren, Hartenstein, Caruso and Dort all out, Daigneault turned to the second-round pick and got 14 points, four threes and five assists in 20 minutes off the bench.
Barnhizer did a little bit of everything that night. He defended, hit shots and gave Oklahoma City a look at a wing who can survive when the lineup gets small.
That versatility should matter when the Thunder need bodies, and his outside shooting gives him a real chance to stay on the floor once he gets there. His confidence also appeared to build throughout 2025-26, helped by a strong stretch with the Blue, where he averaged 18.1 points on 58.5% shooting, including 61.9% from deep, along with 9.9 rebounds and 1.5 steals in 11 games.
For a team that just traded away proven rotation help, the next wave suddenly matters more. Mara looks like the best bet to carve out meaningful minutes.
Topic has the pedigree and playmaking to make noise if he stays healthy. Barnhizer has already shown he can answer the call when the Thunder are short-handed.
In Oklahoma City, that’s how the next chapter usually starts.
In Other News...
Cason Wallace Faces One Thunder Question That Could Shape Everything
The Thunder are heading into a season with a fresh opening in the starting lineup, and Cason Wallace is right in the middle of it. After three NBA seasons, he has settled in as a dependable two-way guard, averaging 7.9 points and 2.2 assists a night while fitting the kind of role Oklahoma City has leaned on as it has built around depth and versatility.
Now the question is whether Wallace can turn that profile into something bigger if his minutes and responsibilities expand. He has talked about staying focused on competing and improving no matter what his contract situation looks like, and for the Thunder that mindset matters just as much as the scoring jump they may need from him if he is going to become a starter. [Read more 🡒]
Thunder Suddenly Face A Shooting Question No One Can Solve Alone
Isaiah Joes departure left the Thunder with a familiar kind of offseason problem: a useful skill set is suddenly gone, and there is no obvious one-for-one fix waiting in the wings. Oklahoma City has spent plenty of time building around depth and versatility, but Joes shooting stretched defenses in a way the roster will now have to replace by committee.
The early answer appears to be spread across several players rather than handed to one specialist. Jared McCain, Cason Wallace, Ajay Mitchell and rookie Bennett Stirtz are all expected to have a hand in keeping the floor spaced, which fits the Thunders broader approach but also makes the shooting burden a little less predictable. The question now is not whether the team can find enough makes over time, but how cleanly that collective fit comes together once the games start mattering again. [Read more 🡒]
Kevin Durant Just Added Fuel To A Rockets Thunder Debate
The NBAs All-Star Game has shifted again to reflect the leagues growing international footprint, and this years Team World setup puts Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in the same conversation as other global stars such as Victor Wembanyama. For Oklahoma City, it is another reminder of how far Gilgeous-Alexanders profile has climbed after a season that helped establish the Thunder as one of the Western Conferences toughest problems.
The discussion around his place in that international spotlight has picked up extra edge because of the route he took to the league, with his background drawing fresh attention alongside the new All-Star format. For the Thunder, the broader issue is less about labels than leverage, since any debate around their star only underscores how central he has become to a team Houston is already viewed as having to measure itself against. [Read more 🡒]