Now that Lu Dort is no longer with the club, the widespread belief is that Cason Wallace is set to take over starting shooting guard duties for the OKC Thunder.
Though primarily used as a key second-unit contributor throughout his three seasons in the Sooner State, Wallace has regularly proven capable of effectively stepping up his level of play when called upon.
This is something he clearly seems to take pride in, as he recently shed light on how he feels his game “elevates” when given more responsibilities, and said, “the tougher the competition is, that’s when I play my best ball.”
Needless to say, this is mightily encouraging when it comes to the idea of the 22-year-old taking over as Dort’s heir apparent in the first five lineup.
Having Wallace be thrust into the starting unit automatically means he’ll be seeing tougher individual competition on a nightly basis.
If he’s right, and his level of play actually does rise when found in such situations, it will only make the several moves made by GM Sam Presti this summer, particularly the Dort trade, look even more genius than most already perceive it to be.
Thunder have dominated with Cason Wallace a part of starting lineup
Frankly, this kind of take by Wallace should come as no surprise to anyone. In fact, for those who regularly tune into Thunder games, they should already be in agreement with him.
Throughout his three seasons with OKC, Wallace has started 114 total regular-season games. Due to widespread injury woes on the team, he was used as a starter in 58 of his 77 games this past year, and, in such outings, the ball club went 49-9 while the Kentucky product averaged 9.3 points, 3.1 rebounds, 2.9 assists, and 2.1 steals while shooting 36.4 percent from beyond the arc.
At this point, fans are fully aware of the fact that more minutes for Wallace have managed to lead to incredible successes for OKC.
With him on the floor in 2026-27, the Thunder placed in the 94 percentile in point differential (plus-11.9), the 96 percentile in opponent turnover percentage (17.6), and the 97 percentile in opponent points per 100 possessions (105.7).
Converting him into a full-time starter should only increase the odds of this level of play being seen for more extended stretches throughout the campaign.
In fact, considering the work he's been putting into his offseason training regimen, one could even argue that people should expect even greater levels of contribution from Wallace this year.
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