Jared McCain Addition Represents Shift in OKC Thunder's Roster Building

Oklahoma City made a small swing at the trade deadline, and it could mean the end of a Thunder tradition.

On Wednesday, the Thunder began to make plenty of noise as the trade deadline approached. They sent Ousmane Dieng to Charlotte to begin his bouncing around, followed by a deal with the Philadelphia 76ers to add second-year standout Jared McCain.

The McCain move was a bit surprising for a few reasons, but it was a deal that left most of the NBA world thinking the Thunder and Sam Presti just made another great move. While McCain has been inconsistent this season after dealing with injuries to begin his young career, he’s still a career 38.1% 3-point shooter who could give the Thunder an offensive boost this season and beyond.

On the surface, making a deal for a player of McCain’s talent level isn’t all that surprising and is likely a worthy risk for Presti and company. However, it was a bit surprising because it strayed from the expectation for the Thunder’s deadline.

Dec 28, 2025; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Cason Wallace (22) reaches to steal the ball away from Philadelphia 76ers guard Jared McCain (20) during the second half at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images | Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

Going into the trade deadline, it seemed as if the only move the Thunder would make is to trade Dieng to open up the 15th roster spot. Of course, the Thunder did exactly that, but it was surprising to see that spot be immediately filled by McCain.

The general expectation was that Oklahoma City would open up the 15th roster spot and convert one of its two-way players into that slot. While Branden Carlson was likely the favorite for that spot, Chris Youngblood was also a possibility, given that he just ran out of two-way games.

With Youngblood waived to make room for Buddy Boeheim’s two-way deal on Friday, and no roster spot currently available for Carlson or Brooks Barnhizer to be converted, the Thunder will likely end its recent streak of converting two-way players to standard contracts.

At the deadline last season, the Thunder made room for Ajay Mitchell to take over the final standard roster spot, which marked the fourth consecutive season Oklahoma City had converted at least one two-way player. Of course, one potential reason the Thunder didn’t follow their usual script for the final roster spot is a lack of standout players in two-way spots, and the still relatively new expectations of being a title contender.

Assuming nothing changes, this will be just the third season since two-way contracts were introduced in 2017-18 that the Thunder won’t convert a player to a standard deal midseason.