Tre Mann’s Confidence Could Propel him to a Bounce Back Year
Tre Mann’s game has always looked confidence-driven.
Be it silky smooth set-backs, hyper-athletic put-back dunks or anything in between, there’s always been a visible swagger to his game. But on the flip side of that coin, the ruts have been visible too.
Drafted No. 18 overall in the 2021 NBA Draft, Mann has always been a bit of an awkward fit in an already crowded Oklahoma City backcourt. But with a projectable 3-point stroke, great athleticism and the quasi-playmaking skills to match, there’s certainly room for him on the squad and even in the rotation.
In his first season, Mann looked the part. He got most of his minutes later in games and started to really blossom near the end of the season, but managed to garner momentum regardless. In just under 23 minutes per game, he averaged 10.4 points, 2.9 rebounds and 1.5 assists, shooting 36 percent from beyond the arc. In his final 17 games of his rookie season, he averaged a whopping 17.0 points on 43 percent shooting overall.
It was a great end to a solid rookie campaign. But his sophomore season didn’t go quite how he or anyone else expected.
His field goal percentage stayed the same — 39.3 percent — but he saw a drop in nearly everything else as he quickly fell out of the rotation. Just 17 minutes, 7.7 points per game and a visible loss of confidence.
Now, after an extremely successful Summer League and a few good NBA preseason games, Mann’s confidence seems to be back. And that just might bring rotation minutes along with it.
In four 2023 Summer League games, Mann looked head and shoulders above his peers, averaging 20.5 points and shooting 54 percent overall.
Mann has played in two of the Thunder’s three preseason games. In the first, he played limited back up minutes, adding a solid eight points on 50 percent shooting, not doing too much but looking the part of a scoring-oriented backup guard. In Sunday’s game versus the Hornets, he started off slow scoring, but eventually poured on 18 points on 7-for-16 shooting in a really promising performance for his future. Most importantly, he added eight rebounds, five assists and one steal and block apiece.
With as talented as OKC’s guard rotation is with Josh Giddey, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Cason Wallace, Vasilije Micic, Isaiah Joe and more, it’s certainly not a given that Mann can weave his way in. But the first step in doing so will be to gain his confidence back. And he looks well on his way to doing so with the 2023-24 season just days away.
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