Heading into the 2025-26 campaign, the number of OKC Thunder players who qualified for recognition as top 100 players in the league was truly remarkable. From Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's second-overall rank to seeing three members fall as high as the top 25 in ESPN's assessment, Oklahoma City's representation was already an exciting sight to see.
Now, it appears there's a case being made that yet another one of the club's players deserves to be entered into these kinds of debates, as pundits Bill Simmons and Zach Lowe both recently placed second-year guard Ajay Mitchell into their updated ranks during a recent episode of The Bill Simmons Podcast.
Thunder guard Ajay Mitchell thrust into updated top 100 discussions
When discussing six players that they were "shocked" to see mentioned within The Ringer's newest top 100 player rankings, Mitchell was the first name brought up by the eponymous host, with Simmons even admitting that he personally had ranked him 82 overall.
Lowe, meanwhile, said he, too, had the guard fall into his 80s range at 89.
Both agreed that, had they run over-under numbers ahead of this activity, the odds of seeing Mitchell fall into Simmons' top 85 players list would have likely been 50-1, and possibly even longer.
Simply put, this is merely yet another example of just how surprising this breakout campaign that the 23-year-old currently finds himself playing through has been.
After establishing himself as a true draft steal during his rookie season last year, where the second-rounder found himself finish fifth in three-point percentage (38.3) and first in defensive rating (100.0) among his 2024 classmates who saw 30 or more games played, during this first month of his sophomore run, Mitchell has now officially thrust himself into the star on the rise discussion.
Through 16 games played, the combo guard is posting new career-highs virtually all across the board, as he's averaging 16.1 points, 3.8 assists, 3.8 rebounds, and 1.8 steals per game while ranking seventh in the entire league in defensive rating (minimum 10 games) at 99.5.
As Lowe noted during the podcast episode, the Thunder are a team that will not utilize a player within their roster unless they are viewed as "a winning basketball player," and, despite his lowly 2024 draft stock and lack of hype heading into 2025-26, Mitchell appears to be exactly this.
Many have been left wondering how Oklahoma City has managed to get off to a historic 15-1 start despite playing without All-NBA forward Jalen Williams.
Outside of the continued brilliance of MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and big man Chet Holmgren, success stories such as Ajay Mitchell are truly the driving force.