Stiles Points: Ajay Mitchell Minutes Could be Here to Stay For Thunder

The Oklahoma City Thunder could see Ajay Mitchell minutes become a fixture in Bricktown after cracking Mark Daigneault's rotation out of the gate and having a career night against the San Antonio Spurs.

Oct 30, 2024; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Ajay Mitchell (25) reacts after a play against the San Antonio Spurs during the second quarter at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images / Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

Early in the NBA season, the name of the game is patience, too many cautionary tales to count of fast starts that sputtered out in short order but not before fooling observers.

However, four games into the Oklahoma City Thunder season, there has been a surprising constant: Ajay Mitchell rotational minutes.

This has not been getting a rookie some burn in the midst of a blowout, Thunder bench boss Mark Daigneault has called on Mitchell with games in the balance in all four of Oklahoma City's first tilts.

On Wednesday against the San Antonio Spurs, Ajay Mitchell had his best career game logging 21 minutes of action while pouring in 12 points, hauling in four rebounds and swiping a pair of steals while being a plus-seven in his minutes.

Thunder bench boss Mark Daigneault explained the decision to play Mitchell in these games was built back in training camp where Mitchell jumped off the page in five-on-five play.

"We play a lot of 5-on-5 at training camp, so there is a lot underneath the surface that you guys might not see, but we do. We take those minutes really seriously...he showed a capacity early, on both ends of the floor. As good as he was offensively tonight, he was really good defensively. He continues to make strides and get better defensively," Daigneault said.

While the Thunder are banged up right now missing Isaiah Hartenstein, Jaylin Williams and Kenrich Williams from their rotation, it is hard to imagine Mitchell being totally squeezed out. Sure, the minutes have to come from somewhere, but wil it be the rookie guard?

Oklahoma City lacked a secondary table setter a year ago and the UC Santa Barbra product provides that. His ability to read the floor, facilitae, initiate offense all has jumped off the page to start the season, with his rim finishing flashing in this contest. If he continues to uptick in the paint, where he shot 62 percent a year ago, he will carve out a role for himself long term.

Mitchell is not the first mid-major guard to make the NBA leap after multiple years in college and be ready for the professional level, Jalen Williams shared his experience making a similar jump.

"When you do that many years of college, it just adds so much to your game. I feel like you have to know basketball, because the college is so different than the NBA. You can tell just from that, especially when you go to a smaller school you play such an array of different basketball and the talent level may not always be the same so it forces you to really understand basketball and I think [Ajay Mitchell] does, so when you come to the NBA you are just more prepared and you have kinda seen a lot of situations," Williams explained.

One thing is for certain, Mitchell is going to be an important contributor for the Oklahoma City Thunder during the regular season and beyond no matter how the minutes shake out, but there are few paths to cut him out of the minutes-pie completely.

Stiles Points

• Chet Holmgren and Victor Wembanyama has continued to shut down any notion that the two are rivals, but their actions on the court speak louder than their words.
• Oklahoma City's 18 steals against the San Antonio Spurs represents their second-most in Thunder history for a single game.
• The OKC Thunder repeated their starting lineup for the first time all season, with Cason Wallace re-entering the starting five. In this game, Wallace flashed with a step-back triple and as an initiator offensively.
• The Oklahoma City Thunder announced Jaylin Williams will remain sidelined for multiple weeks with his hamstring injury.

Song of the Day: I Got Lucky by Elvis Presley

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