The OKC Thunder generated a ton of attention this past offseason when they shelled out more than $800 million in new, standard contracts in an effort to keep their title-winning core intact for the long haul.
Ironically enough, however, it appears that one of their lowest-cost contributors from this summer's spending spree is the player who's been making the most headlines so far in the 2025-26 campaign.
Sophomore Ajay Mitchell has been turning heads with a breakout start to the year that not even the most enthusiastic of fans saw coming.
As things currently stand, the former second-round pick ranks third on the team in points per game (18.3), fourth in field goal percentage (47.5), and fourth in defensive rating (100.9) among those who have logged over 50 minutes played.
Early on last season, it had already been established that the Thunder had managed to snatch up one of the biggest steals from the 2024 NBA Draft. Now, early on in his second season, it appears the narrative has shifted to him being perhaps the best bargain player, not just compared to his class, but the entire league.
Ajay Mitchell's Thunder deal is shaping up to be NBA's best bargain
After a rookie season where he served as a regular in the eventual champion's rotation and averaged 6.5 points, 1.9 rebounds, and 1.8 assists on 49.5 percent shooting from the floor and 38.3 percent shooting from deep, this July, Sam Presti and company opted to bring back the one-time two-way player on a standard three-year, $9 million pact.
Right from the jump, the deal was widely regarded as a true steal, especially when considering the fact that only one season is fully guaranteed.
Now, with his tremendous production to start the year, it's undeniable that the contract is starting to resemble an absolute heist.
Through four games played, Mitchell is dropping sensational averages of 18.3 points, 4.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and 1.0 steals while shooting 47.5 percent from the field and boasting the fourth-best defensive rating on the team (minimum 50 minutes played).
At any financial rate, this kind of production would be more than welcoming. However, at an average salary of $3.0 million a year, it's borderline otherworldly.
Now, of course, we're still only less than a month into the season, and the dangers of falling victim to premature overreactions are very much real.
However, even if Mitchell were to finish the year with most of these averages cut in half, they'd still be revered as highly valuable contributions to have coming off the pine.
With a cap hit of just 1.94 percent this year and an even lesser 1.57 percent come his final year in 2027-28 (which is a club option, by the way), a return on value when it comes to a player's contract doesn't get much better than this.