OKC Thunder May Have an Overreliance on Ajay Mitchell

The breakout of second-year Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Ajay Mitchell has been an immaculate addition to an already championship core this season. Whether in the starting lineup or off the bench, the Belgian baller has brought top-tier secondary ball handling alongside Shai Gilgeous-Alexander this season.

As an early-season Most Improved Player and Sixth Man of the Year candidate through 29 games, Mitchell has averaged 14.1 points, 3.6 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.4 steals per game. He's shot 47.1% from the floor and 34.4% from three-point range on 3.1 attempts a night.

Outside of the box score, Mitchell has brought above-average perimeter defense and intelligent and patient facilitating, aiding the Thunder offense as the floor general in the minutes that Gilgeous-Alexander is off the floor. His ability to slow the pace down in half-court sets is a great skill to put in lineups where he is alongside players who thrive in transition, which is most of OKC's role players.

The importance of the second-year guard truly showed when Mitchell missed the Thunder's two-game set against the San Antonio Spurs on Dec. 23 and on Christmas Day due to the NBA's concussion protocol. Without Mitchell, the Thunder lost back-to-back games by 15 points or more for the first time since the 2021-22 season, when they won 24 games.

In the two losses, the Thunder's weaknesses were highlighted by a hungry Spurs team. When Gilgeous-Alexander was off the floor, OKC's offense looked dead in the water, the ball movement was choppy, open looks were hard to come by and the struggles were amplified by San Antonio's constant pressure on offense, scoring on almost every possession.

It did not help that the secondary scoring option and ball handler, Jalen Williams, continued to struggle as he continues to reach the form he was in before his wrist injury that needed an offseason surgery.

On the 23rd, Williams scored 17 points on 8-of-18 shooting and 1-of-4 from three. On Christmas, he scored 12 points on 5-of-13 shooting, 1-of-2 from distance and 1-of-4 from the free throw line, scoring just three points after the first quarter.

When fully healthy, performances like this from a player of Williams's caliber will be rare to come by, but if the past two games proved anything, it proved that OKC may be relying a little too much on a second-year player. Despite being a small sample size against a team that already beat the Thunder once before with Mitchell in the lineup, the two losses without him being the team's two biggest do not seem like a coincidence.

When Mitchell is out there, the ball moves quicker and the offense looks smoother, showing how important the young playmaker truly is to the defending champs. In all likelihood, Head Coach Mark Daigneault and the Thunder will find a fix to their struggles against the Spurs without him, but what happens if Mitchell is unavailable come playoff time?