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Going for the late-night highlight, Aday Mara's daring behind-the-back pass backfired. After he grabbed the offensive board, he got lost in the sauce. Cutting baseline, Brooks Barnhizer couldn't catch the ball. Instead, it sailed over his head and darted out of bounds for another avoidable turnover.
The Oklahoma City Thunder opened their Las Vegas stay with a 96-84 Summer League loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. You can copy-and-paste all of their offensive woes from Utah onto this one.
At the start of this one, it felt like the Thunder had figured some things out. Perhaps a couple of off days helped them reset things. Bennett Stirtz scored their first bucket. Later on, he went downhill and bumped his way into contact for an and-one finish. He started to finally show confidence.
The same could be said for Cameron Carr on the other end, though. He was awesome from the jump. The high-level athlete showed off his hops. The Thunder were in a 24-23 deficit after the first quarter. Considering how things usually played out in Salt Lake City, you'll take that if you're OKC.
Even with Payton Sandfort torching the nets, the Thunder eventually cooled off. And the Lakers didn't. The latter went on a 20-8 run in the second quarter to create space on the scoreboard. Suddenly, OKC's crisp ball movement regressed to turnovers in bunches. Adou Thiero looked like Orlando's Aaron Gordon with a windmill dunk in transition.
The Thunder only scored 20 points in the second frame. They entered halftime with a 53-43 deficit. It remained that way for most of the second half. The Lakers rattled off eight consecutive points at one point in the third quarter. The distance between both sides remained in the double-digit territory.
Over on the social media world, Mara was getting roasted. Just one day after Michigan teammates Morez Johnson Jr. and Yaxel Lendeborg put on a show in Las Vegas, the 21-year-old showed that he's still a ways away from rounding out to be a contributor. On both ends of the floor. That said, the Summer League environment did him very few favors.
As the game got out of hand, the Lakers turned back the clock. A bunch of showtime dunks had the sparse Vegas crowd feel vindicated for staying put through Friday's marathon of games. Carr caught an alley-oop as he's the latest first-round pick to energize the fanbase. The Thunder only tallied 23 points in the third quarter. They were at an 86-66 deficit — which turned out to be the largest of the night.
At that point, most have tuned out. The Thunder applied makeup on the final score. They scored 18 points in the final frame. Stirtz caught fire. He drilled a top-of-the-key outside jumper to cut it to single digits. In a 90-81 game with a little over two minutes to go, maybe OKC could make things interesting. Instead, all it did was make Los Angeles call a timeout. That was that.
The Thunder shot 41% from the field and went 9-of-27 (33.3%) from 3. They shot 9-of-13 on free throws. They had 12 assists on 29 baskets. Five Thunder players scored double-digit points.
Stirtz finally broke out with 18 points and two assists. Barnhizer had 12 points and 10 rebounds. Off the bench, Sandfort, Christoph Tilly and Anthony Pritchard all scored 10 points apiece.
Meanwhile, the Lakers shot 54% from the field and went 8-of-27 (29.6%) from 3. They shot 9-of-16 on free throws. They had 24 assists on 37 baskets. Four Lakers players scored double-digit points.
Thiero went off for 20 points, four rebounds and four assists. Carr had 18 points and two rebounds. Arthur Kaluma also had 18 points and four rebounds. And then Anton Watson chipped in with 15 points and four assists.
Well, a lot of nuance is required to digest this one. The Thunder continue to look depressing in Summer League. But that shouldn't be a shocker. They just don't have the talent to really wow you. And the guys at the top of the depth chart are more complementary pieces for OKC. Just a bad set of ingredients that don't really gel together. That said, there are things to be concerned about. Or at least acknowledge.
The Thunder have had a mixed bag of results from their two top-16 picks. This time, Stirtz was awesome. And Mara, not so much. We'll talk more about what that means — both in the short-term and long-term. But it's perfectly fine to feel a little underwhelmed from what they've done so far. Especially when looking at the rest of the lottery picks in Vegas.
Let's look at Thunder player grades:
Aday Mara: F
In this game, we learned the difference between tolerable and intolerable mistakes. Going for a behind-the-back pass is expected. Mara was painted as a high-feel passer for a big man. Letting Thiero jog his way to a banking floater at the third-quarter buzzer when you're hovering the paint is not something you can just shrug your shoulders about.
Mara finished with two points on 0-of-3 shooting, seven rebounds and one assist. He shot 1-of-3 on free throws. He also had two blocks and one steal.
In a vacuum, this was easily Mara's worst Summer League game yet. He was invisible on offense. To the point that his passiveness was detrimental. You can't be 7-foot-3 and pass up on floaters over defenders you eclipse. As the No. 12 pick, he looked anything but his prestigious draft status. And then on defense, he was just too indecisive and slow-footed — those two elements married spell disaster.
Mara was flat-out bad. Hence his grade. That said, how much of this actually matters? That's the age-old question we universally ask every Summer League. Folks were panicking online. Especially after Johnson Jr. and Lendeborg have produced at this level. Fair or not, those three will forever be linked because of their time at Michigan and OKC's affinity for them all as a No. 12 possibility.
But of the Thunder's entire Summer League roster, it feels like Mara is most set up to fail. He's a play-finisher. That's what he was at Michigan. That's what the advanced stats and game tape suggest. So to throw him out there without an actual playmaker is just undesirable. Sure, he looked a lot better in his two Utah games, but you can't expect him to create his own buckets — at least not yet.
That has led me to beg for a nuanced view of Mara's Summer League. He's shown flashes. And that's all you can really ask for in this environment. The fact of the matter is, none of this should be surprising. His strengths and weaknesses in the predraft process remain the same. And they aren't going away anywhere.
While the potential is tantalizing — rostering a 7-foot-3 behemoth who is only shorter than Victor Wembanyama in the NBA — Mara has a long way to go to reach that ceiling. And with no promise he'll even get there. That said, the Thunder likely won't need him to help right away. You just gotta hope he shows incremental improvements over the long-term view.
So yeah, those are just my two cents on the Mara debate. Because this conversation felt inevitable to have. He played well enough in Utah to Eurostep his way from it. But his no-show in Las Vegas put it front and center for everybody to talk about.
Bennett Stirtz: A
Commanding the offense, Stirtz utilized Tilly's screen like a pick-and-roll maestro he was billed to be. He dribbled his way to the top of the key. Swishing in another pull-up outside jumper, we finally saw him unveil the microwave-scoring aspect of his game at Summer League.
Stirtz finished with 18 points on 7-of-14 shooting and two assists. He shot 3-of-8 from 3 and went 1-of-1 on free throws. He also had one steal and one block.
Now this is what we're talking about. Finally, Stirtz enjoyed some shooting luck. I liked his process in Utah. The results obviously weren't there. But after he scored OKC's opening bucket on a driving layup, the rim finally returned to being on talking terms with him.
The more the ball was in Stirtz's hands, the more confidence he gained. With each passing dribble, he got into a flow. The rhythm scorer finally found a groove as the Thunder allowed him to be the primary ball-handler. He had 13 points in the second half. Looking at his shot chart, the jumper finally fell for him.
Stirtz showcased his range with a couple of deep 3-pointers. And even on your run-of-the-mill corner attempt, he drilled in the shot despite being heavily contested. Not just a one-level scorer, he also showed he can take it to the cup or pull up in traffic inside of the paint.
Just a really great outing for Stirtz. He was the only salvageable part of this snoozefest. Great to see him show he can get on a heater. His Utah stint started to conjure up some uncomfortable conversations about his ability to put up points at the NBA level in the same way he did at Iowa.
Brooks Barnhizer: B
Cutting to the basket, Barnhizer redeemed himself for Mara. Making up for their earlier miscue, the two connected in the fourth quarter. The 24-year-old made the timely cut and caught his pass. He went up for the driving layup without any turbulence.
Barnhizer finished with 12 points on 3-of-7 shooting, 10 rebounds and two assists. He shot 3-of-4 on free throws. He also had two steals and one block.
Against a competition level similar to the G League level, Barnhizer has put up numbers in Summer League. You could argue he's been OKC's most consistent player. He can bulldoze to the rim and finish through traffic. When that doesn't happen, he'll at least draw enough contact to get to the free-throw line. Elsewhere, he'll also help on the boards. His endless motor has helped him stay on the floor.
I think Barnhizer has fully leaned into his strengths. At 24 years old, you kinda have to. Not much more room left to grow. That said, wish he would experiment a bit more elsewhere. The Thunder liked him enough to bring him back on a two-way deal. Perhaps he can be an energizer. But that's really it for him.
Payton Sandfort: B-plus
Knocking down a couple of deep outside jumpers, Sandfort continues to show out. Of their entire Summer League roster, he's made the most of his opportunity on the Thunder. Before the games started, he was mostly an afterthought. Four games later, folks are clamoring to bring him back on a two-way deal.
Sandfort finished with 10 points on 4-of-9 shooting and seven rebounds. He shot 2-of-5 from 3.
Aside from the goose egg he had in Utah's finale, Sandfort has been a standout in all of OKC's Summer League games. In fact, he's made the second halves at least semi-watchable in all blowout losses. The range has been insane. Even for today's ridiculous NBA standards where guys are pulling up from near halfcourt.
At this point, Sandfort has built up a drumbeat. Three really good outings out of four games show the type of consistency you like to see from hopeful NBA players. Especially when their top selling point is being an outside shooter. That's always going to be a hot commodity in today's league.
Highlights:
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Player grades: Thunder open Las Vegas Summer League with 96-84 loss to Lakers
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