The Oklahoma City Thunder got away with the equivalent of a basketball crime when they acquired Jared McCain for draft compensation and no outgoing players. In the eight months since, the Thunder have been praised and Daryl Morey has been ostracized for a truly bizarre deal.
With Jalen Williams suffering a severe ankle injury in the Thunder's third game of the 2026-27 season, however, McCain is back under the magnifying lens—and he'll now reveal if it was a steal after all.
A season ago, the Thunder overcame Williams missing 49 games due to injury by virtue of their elite perimeter depth. The likes of Luguentz Dort, Isaiah Joe, and Aaron Wiggins all took turns thriving under the spotlight, with each providing something different yet essential.
Dort, for instance, took on the challenge of guarding taller wings. Joe set new career-best marks in points per game, three-point field goal percentage, and eFG%. Wiggins was a bit less consistent, but still stepped up with big scoring performances during the second half of the season.
In saying that, Oklahoma City traded all three of Dort, Joe, and Wiggins during the 2026 offseason—and Williams is now in line to miss significant time once again. That's put pressure on the remaining perimeter players to not only justify the Thunder's faith in their ability to exceed Dort, Joe, and Wiggins' respective levels of play, but prove they can be just effective in Williams' absence.
No player will face bigger questions in that regard than McCain, who has all of the tools to be a Joe or Wiggins type of contributor, but is still a quiet question mark early in his career.
Was Jared McCain truly a steal? He'll answer that with Jalen Williams out
Oklahoma City parting with three of its best wings has left its perimeter with intriguing top-end talent but less options beyond them. Remove Williams from the equation and the likes of Alex Caruso, McCain, Ajay Mitchell, and Cason Wallace will be tasked with shouldering a far heavier burden than they had to a season ago.
The biggest hurdle that Oklahoma City will have to clear is replacing their second-leading scorer. Though Mitchell will likely shoulder the most weight, McCain must consistently step up himself.
McCain is effectively in the Joe and Wiggins role as a backup guard who must offer a strong baseline of consistency and the ability to peak with momentum-swinging performances. Doing so would take immeasurable pressure off of leading scorer Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and third option Chet Holmgren.
If McCain struggles to step up with Williams sidelined and the trio of Dort, Joe, and Wiggins no longer on the roster, however, then the Thunder's offense could stall against top-tier opponents.
Thunder lack proven volume scorers after SGA, traded three key wings
The good news is that McCain averaged 20.9 points per 36 minutes in 30 regular season appearances with the Thunder in 2025-26. If he can build upon that success in 2026-27, then Oklahoma City's offense should be able to sustain itself in Williams' absence.
In the process, talk of McCain being an absolute steal would persist—and his reputation as a promising young player would coexist alongside it.
If McCain is unable to step up when the Thunder need him, however, the offense could overburden Gilgeous-Alexander, Holmgren, and Mitchell. Perhaps that trio is capable of leading the charge, but for a team with championship ambitions, taking pressure off of them is essential—especially when one considers Mitchell's inexperience and Holmgren's passive tendencies.
That might not necessarily invalidate the belief that the Thunder committed trade robbery, but it'd put the fact that they gave up a first-round pick and three second-rounders into a different type of perspective.
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