In past seasons, this OKC Thunder team has somewhat shied away from shelling out significant minutes to unproven, reletively raw prospects.
Sure, outlier examples such as Ajay Mitchell certainly exist, but since thrusting themselves into the contender spotlight, coach Mark Daigneault has generally leaned on his stars and more seasoned veterans in their push to win in the now.
Following a slew of offseason shakeups and departures, however, it appears Oklahoma City is now primed to adopt a somewhat different approach to its in-game rotations.
Sam Presti and company seem committed to filling the vacated roster spots left by key pieces like Lu Dort, Isaiah Joe, and Aaron Wiggins with several rookies and other incredibly green youngsters.
Considering the Thunder are a team that regularly dives between 10 and 13 men deep with their per-game rotations, there's no doubt that guys like Nikola Topic and Thomas Sorber, as well as rookies Aday Mara and Bennett Stirtz, should be relied upon much more than if the previously mentioned core talents were still in tow.
After all, we're talking about the minutes of three players who averaged north of 20.0 minutes a night now being unclaimed. Sure, a bunch of this playing time will be swallowed up by the likes of Mitchell, Cason Wallace, and Jared McCain, but with the fact that all were already seeing a ton of action, there's bound to be ample minutes available for the taking for these unproven prospects.
This coming from a legitimate championship favorite is both exciting and incredibly foreign all at the same time.
Bennett Stirtz could be surprise X factor on Thunder
While most may be under the impression that lottery-pick Aday Mara is the rookie who has been the rookie generating the lion's share of excitement heading into 2026-27, in actuality, there's a strong case to be made that his fellow first-round classmate, Bennett Stirtz, is far more deserving of that distinction.
In fact, considering what the Thunder could seemingly use more of within their rotation from a positional and skill-set standpoint, the 22-year-old actually has an opportunity to serve as the club's surprise X factor.
As mentioned earlier, OKC lost a number of regular rotation players this summer, specifically two of their more reliable perimeter scorers and off-ball shooters, Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins.
Being the Thunder have ranked as one of the most active off-the-catch shooting squads in the association over the last four years, placing as high as eighth in long-range and sixth in overall catch-and-shoot attempts during their 2024-25 championship-winning campaign, someone like Stirtz could prove to be a major asset.
Throughout his tenure playing Division I ball, the guard posted impressive per-game averages of 19.5 points and 5.0 assists while shooting 48.7 percent from the floor and 37.2 percent from deep, and, just recently, while suiting up for the Iowa Hawkeyes, knocked down roughly 52 percent of his catch-and-shoot attempts.
While no one should expect his volume and usage to be remotely close to what it was at the collegiate level, if his efficiency can remain around the same, Stirtz could easily wind up becoming one of the best pick-ups from the 2026 NBA Draft class.
Add us as a preferred source on Google