Impressive Stretch Fueling Future All-Star Aspirations for OKC Thunder's Cason Wallace

Despite a relatively forgetful performance in an OKC Thunder routing against the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday night, Cason Wallace has turned it on to another level.

Obtaining more and more responsibility on both ends of the floor, especially with recent losses due to injury in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and less-recent injuries with Ajay Mitchell, Wallace has been able to showcase himself more offensively.

We know what he brings on the defensive end of the floor. Consistency, stability, impact. He's noticeably grown year after year and game after game—his ability to uplift the Thunder's scheme in sparking takeaways and points in transition is invaluable and seamless for this team.

The third-year guard out of Kentucky sits second in the NBA for steals per game and top 12 in defensive rating— both metrics accounting for players who have played at least 20 games this season across the league.

But what's been most interesting and fun to see is his ability to evolve as a ball-heavy playmaker, where he's been able to showcase this due to Gilgeous-Alexander sidelined.

During a brief stint where both Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams were sidelined, he got to demonstrate this even further. He's looked confident and has shown he can create for himself, not just off backdoor cuts or when having numbers in transition. And he's also further shown his ability to set his teammates up for scores.

In the month of February, he's averaging 16 points per game along with four assists and three steals. In the two games and subsequent losses without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams, he dropped 13 and 23 points on those nights, also with five and four assists combined with three and four steals.

It's been able to cement himself as a true threat offensively in a role he hasn't had to play much of before. Nearly beating a competitive, talented San Antonio Spurs team while severely undermanned showed a lot of leadership as he was a focal point of the offense, and the same against the Houston Rockets.

But throughout this stretch, he's been shown the confidence, the potential to eventually find himself land an NBA All-Star spot based on how he's continued to level up and progress exponentially each year. Each time he's placed in a tough spot with plenty of responsibility, he's responded and rarely wavered.

That likely won't fade, and the guys on this Thunder team would tell you the same.