Thunder End of Year Report Card: Tre Mann

Tre Mann saw a decrease in minutes last season, which led to a bit of a sophomore slump.

For Tre Mann, the Oklahoma City Thunder’s jump to postseason contention wasn’t as glamorous as it was for others. Isaiah Joe’s early contributions, Jalen Williams having a strong rookie year and Aaron Wiggins winning ways all played a part in Mann getting a downwards bump in minutes.

Now, Mann’s game and value comes from him being a volume scorer and an instant-impact offensive player. He also brings a solid defensive effort, despite not having the physicals to quite make life easy on that end of the ball. This, along with his minutes taking a hit, made this a rough season for Mann.

Overall Grade: D+

Thinking of the average grade, the list starts at C for average. Mann gets two ticks below that, and it’s not entirely his fault. Sure, Mann didn’t get the most opportunity, and the margin for opportunity will only get thinner as the Thunder load up on more talent. However, Mann was unable to adjust to the newfound role, and this made him spiral out of rhythm.

There was a point in the season where the second-year pro caught rhythm in the G League Showcase, but that didn’t translate for enough time when he made his return to the Thunder.

Moving forward, Mann will have to learn how to make an impact and find his rhythm early, as it’ll be hard for him to find more than six consecutive minutes on the court with the talent the Thunder are loading up on.

Offense

Mann’s talent is on the offensive side of the ball. He’s got good ball-handling skills, and is more than shifty enough to consistently get off clean shots. This seems like good tools for Mann, who plays primarily off the bench in a “microwave scorer” role. However, it wasn’t this season.

During Mann’s rookie year, he had much more possibilities on offense as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey traded time injured, giving the Thunder a need for a second ball-handler and scorer. Those two were much healthier this season and Jalen Williams is a great player to have as a backup ball-handler and scorer, so there wasn’t a necessity for Mann’s skills. Again, not entirely his fault.

When Mann isn’t needed to use his best skillset, he’s already set up to be a step behind, and his role changing entirely didn’t help either, but that’s the unfortunate reality of playing on a rebuilding team finding their way back to success. Mann dropped 7.7 points per game in 17.7 minutes pre game, both dropping from last season. He appeared in seven more games than last season, but with 21 less starts.

Defense

Defense isn’t exactly what got Mann into the league, and it’s certainly not what earns him minutes. Being 6-foot-3 and often playing shooting guard minutes, Mann has no upper hand on defense.

Luckily, Mann brings an incredible effort and that carries the entire load of his defensive game. He’s not scared to get scrappy and stick his nose in a situation he doesn’t fit in, and that fits this Thunder squad perfectly and makes him much less of a defensive liability. OKC played the entire season undersized, so Mann didn't quite stick out on that side of the ball.

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