Rookie Tracker: Tre Mann Gaining Traction as a Scoring Weapon

With three of Oklahoma City’s four 2021 rookies sidelines for the foreseeable future, Tre Mann has been hard at work in the spotlight.

Starting in several games for the heavily depleted Thunder, Mann has started to gain attention, even nationally.

In his NBA observations last week, The Ringer’s Kevin O’Conner made sure to give Mann his props.

“Mann probably won’t a team’s centerpiece, but anytime a player can create off the dribble like he can they belong in the discussion.” O’Conner wrote. “At 21, Mann is still growing into his body. He grew 2 inches and gained 15 pounds after his freshman season at Florida. The additional size helped him blossom as a sophomore, but excelling against NBA physicality is the next step. His progress has been encouraging, with more consistent production recently.”

But O’Conner hasn’t been the only renown member of NBA media to highlight Mann’s recent stretch.

In his 10 NBA things, ESPN’s Zach Lowe had high praise for Mann’s offensive ability.

“He has dozens of subtle tricks,” Lowe wrote. “Hesitation dribbles, shoulder fakes, weird ways of angling his body mid-dribble -- to keep defenders off-balance, so they can't mirror his steps and momentum. He strings them together with predatory intent. He knows what's coming, but you don’t.”

Mann is averaging 9.1 points on 39 percent shooting overall this season. But in his last six games he’s scoring 18.5 points on 47 percent shooting, and a hot 36 percent from three.

Mann and the depleted Thunder are back in action on Friday night with a home matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

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