Jared McCain's First Full Season with the OKC Thunder Could be a Special One

The OKC guard showed out in the back half of this past season, and now will go through his first offseason with the team.

May 26, 2026; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Jared McCain (3) reacts after a basket during the fourth quarter against the San Antonio Spurs in game five of the western conference finals for the 2026 NBA playoffs at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images | Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

The Thunder are hoping that its newest addition continues to pay off greatly. 

As the 2025-26 season has ended, the Oklahoma City Thunder are now setting their sights on the future. The front office will now be assessing what OKC must do to get back on track for another championship next season, and where pieces need to fit inside that puzzle. 

A big part of this will be the Thunder counting on multiple key pieces to keep developing, as OKC is still a younger team. You have guys like Chet Holmgren and Ajay Mitchell who are still up-and-coming stars, but the Thunder are hoping other guys start to fit that description as well. 

One name in particular is Jared McCain. Oklahoma City traded for McCain at the NBA trade deadline this past season, and it paid off for them in the back half of the season. He would average 10.4 points for the Thunder in his time there in the regular season, and then would continue to be a solid contributor off the bench in the playoffs, averaging 10 points. 

McCain proved to be a spark plug when OKC had gone cold and showed the NBA he could live up to the moment, hitting multiple big shots down the stretch of the playoffs. Now, Oklahoma City is hoping that with a full offseason for McCain to work with the team, he can develop into the player they want him to be. 

McCain even touched on this himself in his exit interview, talking about all he hopes to accomplish with the team during his first offseason. 

“So again being able to have a proper training camp with this team and again learning and being able to guard some of these guys during training camp, that will be amazing for me,” McCain said. “But obviously, stuff like that I'm working on in the off-season. And, yeah, I feel like defensively -- and obviously sharpening up offensively, being more efficient, being able to read drives better, read close outs better -- all that stuff is part of the off-season training.”

Other Thunder players like Holmglren and Mitchell have shown what kind of jump you can make when you buy into the Thunder’s offseason training, and McCain could be the next name to join that list. 

He still has plenty of time to grow, as he is only heading into his third year in the league, but it will be an exciting time to see what all McCain can do when he truly knows the DNA of the Thunder inside and out.