Ajay Mitchell's Importance for OKC Thunder on Full Display Amid Absence

Oklahoma City has been in a rough patch over the past few weeks, and the absence of a key creator has been a key reason.

The Thunder limped into the All-Star break, literally and figuratively. With a tough loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday night with several key players out of the lineup, the Thunder mercifully made it to the All-Star break.

With a week break to recover and regroup for the final few weeks of the regular season, the Thunder might be able to come back close to full health when they tip off again on Friday. While there’s no guarantee that the week off will be long enough to get the injured stars back on the floor, the Thunder would certainly welcome the return of Ajay Mitchell.

The second-year guard would’ve been the Thunder’s lone representative at Friday’s Rising Stars if not for the injury that’s kept him out of action for Oklahoma City for weeks. Still, there should be some hope that the breakout star for the Thunder is ready to get back on the floor when action resumes next week.

After leaving the Thunder’s mid-January matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks with an abdominal strain, Mitchell has missed 11 straight games. While Oklahoma City has been banged up significantly in that stretch with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams also missing time, the Thunder have gone just 5-6 without Mitchell.

This season, Mitchell is averaging 14.1 points, 3.7 assists and 1.4 steals in 26.3 minutes a night. While that kind of production can typically be picked up by someone like Aaron Wiggins or Cason Wallace, Mitchell’s importance goes far beyond his raw stats.

Offensively, Mitchell is one of the Thunder’s three primary ball handlers, alongside Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams. With all three of those guys out against the Bucks on Thursday, the Thunder’s offense looked understandably bad.

Throughout the season, Mitchell has been a walking paint touch, breaking down defenses and getting to his spots for easy buckets or creating open looks for his teammates. While he might not be on Gilgeous-Alexander’s level, there’s a real case to be made that Mitchell is the Thunder’s second-best creator, especially when factoring in Williams’ wrist issues throughout the season.

While Oklahoma City will undeniably need to be at full strength to make any sort of run at the title, Mitchell’s importance is showing to be much greater than most thought at the beginning of the season. Although the Thunder have only missed Mitchell for 13 games all season, the eight losses in those matchups paint a clear picture of how important he’s been.