Jared McCain Bolsters Bench, Makes History Early in OKC Thunder Tenure

The Oklahoma City Thunder boasted one of the best rosters in the NBA coming into the 2025-26 season.

After winning a title in 2024-25, Mark Daigneault and company returned virtually the same roster and appeared to have a strong chance at becoming the first back-to-back champions in eight years. OKC started the season 24-1 despite a few key players missing time, showcasing the Thunder's depth.

Following the historic start, though, Oklahoma City hasn't been as dominant throughout the rest of the campaign. The Thunder are 22-14 since Dec. 13, and displayed a few weaknesses on the roster during that stretch.

As a result, Sam Presti and company made a move for Jared McCain ahead of the NBA Trade Deadline, sending draft picks back to Philadelphia for the 2024 first-round pick. Since arriving in the Modern Frontier, McCain has been a significant boost off the bench for OKC,

In his first nine games with the Thunder, McCain tallied 11.9 points and 3.1 rebounds while shooting 48.1% from the field and 45.9% from 3-point range. The 22-year-old has scored in double figures six times and topped 20 points twice with Oklahoma City.

McCain's fast start has helped the second-year guard become the fastest player to reach 100 points off the bench for OKC since 2012.

Jared McCain is the fastest OKC player since 2012 to reach 100+ PTS off the bench. pic.twitter.com/AiGmakWEsA
— Real App (@realapp) February 28, 2026

McCain scored a team-high 21 points in OKC's win against Brooklyn, his highest scoring output of the season, but the former No. 16 overall pick's most notable performance for the Thunder came against Dnever.

With Oklahoma City still missing a few key ball handlers in its matchup against Nikola Jokic and company, McCain stepped up and delivered a strong showing off the bench. In 19 minutes on the floor, McCain tallied 14 points, 2 rebounds, an assist and a steal while shooting 6-of-8 from the field, 2-of-3 from 3-point range and 4-of-5 from the free throw line.

The Thunder are still dealing with injuries, and will need McCain's skill set in the team's second unit to help maintain the No. 1 seed throughout the regular season with the Spurs just two games back.

When players like Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell return from their injuries, McCain's role could be diminished, but the Thunder were in need of more perimeter shooting even with Williams and Mitchell in the lineup.

McCain was a five-star prospect coming out of high school, rated the No. 14 overall player and No. 3 combo guard in the 2023 recruiting class. After a strong freshman season at Duke, McCain was selected by Philadelphia in the 2024 NBA Draft and had a solid rookie season before suffering an injury that held him to just 23 games.

McCain seems to have found a similar rythym to his first NBA season since his arrival in Oklahoma City.

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