OKC Thunder's Approach to Jared McCain During Regular Season Home Stretch

Life comes at you fast. No one knows that more than newly acquired Oklahoma City Thunder guard Jared McCain. It wasn't that long ago McCain was a top recruit out of high school who committed to Duke University before becoming a star for the Blue Devils and stealing the hearts of professional and amateur NBA Draft evaluators during the 2024 cycle.

McCain heard his name called in the first round of the 2024 NBA Draft, No. 16 to the Philadelphia 76ers. The shooting guard took the City of Brotherly Love by storm, making himself the front runner for the NBA Rookie of the Year award before suffering a knee injury that ended his rookie campaign after just 23 games. A stint that saw him average 15.3 points, haul in 2.4 rebounds, dish out 2.6 and swipe nearly a steal per game while shooting 46% from the floor, 38% from distance and 87% at the charity stripe - good enough to still land him seventh on the Rookie of the Year ballot.

While recovering from that knee injury, McCain suffered a thumb injury this offseason that has shaken up his sophomore campaign. With the 76ers, the now 22-year-old posted just 6.6 points, 2.0 rebounds, 1.7 assists and just over half a steal pere game while seeing his field goal percentage down to 38% and 3-point percentage fall to 37%.

Since arriving in Oklahoma City, he has turned around his shooting percentages at all three levels while boosting his scoring number to 9.3 points per game.

At Thursday's practice, head coach Mark Daigneault was peppered with questions about what McCain's role looks like for the Thunder down the home stretch of this season.

"It's similar to what he's done. Which is come in, don't skip steps, don't try to speed anything up or rush anything just because it was a mid-season trade. It's better to invest the time to make sure you're learning everything, crossing all the T's, dotting all the I's. That's from a program standpoint. We want him to understand those things. If we have to wait a couple of minutes to learn the whole playbook. All of the out-of-bounds plays. For him to learn those things will take that time. It's worth the investment," Daineault said. "I think the break was helpful for him specifically. Just to let him catch his breath. Continue to do what he's done. He’s functional and respectful of the fact that he’s joining a team that’s had a lot of success together. Including this season. But at the same time, he’s confident. He’s not sitting around and admiring the team. He’s a part of it."

This is a tough line to walk, McCain will be a vital part of this Oklahoma City club long-term but has the talent and savvy nature to learn on the fly and also lift a team chasing their second straight championship.

"When he's open, he shoots. When he's not, he makes the right play. He competes on defense. He plays inside his game. He's set a great tone so far with all that stuff. It's allowed him to be pretty impactful despite not knowing everybody's name," Daigneault detailed.

While McCain might not know every staffer in the organization just yet, he has already grabbed the attention of his teammates.

"I feel like he has high expectations for himself. He’s going to continue to chase an appetite for more in terms of how he can help the team. How he can grow within that. He's a really good player with a great skillset. Of skills we need, especially right now. Think it'll be easy and natural for him. We'll see him continue to grow as he gets his feet underneath him. We'll learn to play with him more as he learns to play with us," All-Star teammate Chet Holmgren explained.

The Thunder can use his shooting gravity and scoring punch to alleviate some half court offensive struggles that the team fell into during last year's postseason run with his competitive nature defensively –– flanked by elite defenders –– can keep him on the floor in high leverage minutes.

Oklahoma City has a quarter of the regular season left and it started with a bagn as McCain dropped 21 points on 7-for-12 shooting, including 3-for-6 from beyond the arc to couple with four rebounds and a steal in the Thunder's 105-86 win over the Brooklyn Nets out of the All-Star break.

This is a great game to build on for the new found sharpshooter in Bricktown.