How Tre Mann Could Benefit from G League Stint

Tre Mann hasn’t had the most impressive second season, and the Oklahoma City Thunder being filled with young talent doesn’t help.

Looking at the guard position with Josh Giddey and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, it would be hard for any young guard to find their way into that starting lineup. To make it worse, Jalen Williams and Aaron Wiggins provide competition for bench guard minutes, along with Isaiah Joe and his recent breakthrough.

Nonetheless, it’s hard to find minutes and reps for everyone on the squad, so utilizing the Oklahoma City Blue, the Oklahoma City Thunder’s G League affiliate, is a must.

Mann will likely have to be the guy who takes the most reps with the Blue this season. Joe is too good of a shooter and compliments the starters very well.

“I’m looking forward to it. Ready to compete, get better and grow. That’s my mindset going down there,” Mann said of joining the Blue on assignment. “I’m gonna go down there and get better.”

Best case scenario, Mann finds his scoring rhythm and is able to knock down shots at a solid volume. When he returns to the Thunder, however, he’s going to have to be able to score in bursts, as it will be hard to find consistent minutes for him.

Realistically, Mann coming back from his assignment and not producing right away wouldn’t be an issue, as long as he continues to learn. When Aleksej Pokusevski went on an extended assignment last season, he didn’t come back and find consistency, but it’s showing more this season the impact that his assignment might have had.

So, to determine if the assignment worked or not, we will have to wait for the longer term results. Him getting useful reps in the G League is much better than being unable to find consistency on the Thunder bench.

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