With every passing day, Ajay Mitchell creates yet another reason why he deserves to be considered the biggest steal of the 2024 NBA Draft. Following his impressive showing during Sunday night's revenge win for the OKC Thunder over the Portland Trail Blazers, his case for such a distinction only managed to grow stronger.
Though far from a perfect player (after all, no one is), the sophomore found himself putting forth a perfect performance against the Blazers, particularly on the offensive end, where he dropped 20 points on 100 percent shooting both from the floor (8-for-8) and beyond the arc (2-for-2).
His efforts were so spectacular, in fact, that they even had NBA insider Brian Windhorst floating Mitchell's name as a dark horse MVP candidate during a Monday edition of the Hoop Collective Podcast.
Now, while such chatter is obviously far-fetched (even Windy knows it), it does further highlight just how great a breakout, and, with this, how much bigger of an impact the Thunder guard finds himself having here in year two in the NBA.
Ajay Mitchell is virtually invaluable for OKC Thunder in 2025-26
Following a rock-solid rookie campaign, one where he established himself as a regular within the eventual champion's in-game rotation thanks to his impressive long-range shooting (38.3 percent clip) and defensive (100.2 rating) skills, the former second-rounder is off to far and away an even better go-around now in his second season.
In 27.7 minutes a night, Mitchell is posting sensational, career-best averages of 16.1 points, 3.8 assists, 3.7 rebounds, and 1.8 steals per game while shooting 46.1 percent from the field.
On top of this, his 98.7 defensive rating trails only Alex Caruso, while his +9.9 plus-minus ranks sixth on this league-best Thunder squad.
Considering these exceptional contributions, it should come as no surprise that high-profile figures like Windhorst are being seen gushing over the second-year combo guard.
Just a few days before, in fact, Bill Simmons went so far as to say that he now ranks Mitchell just outside his top 80 in The Ringer's updated top 100 player rankings, specifically placing him 82 overall.
Heading into the campaign, the 23-year-old was nowhere to be found in such discussions.
Considering they've played all games without All-NBA forward Jalen Williams in tow (still recovering from offseason wrist surgery), many seem to be absolutely stunned at the fact that Oklahoma City is officially off to the 10-best start in league history at 17-1.
However, for those who have watched this Thunder team closely, and, in turn, seen Mitchell's stupendous impact first-hand, it really shouldn't come as all that great of a shock.