Thunder's Early Arrival to Competing Halts Tre Mann's Development

Tre Mann has seen a fall off in minutes and NBA action since the Thunder have been within arm's reach of the Play-In.

As the Oklahoma City Thunder remain on the brink of the Play-In tournament, there’s a reminder that the Thunder are running out of time for projects. Players like Tre Mann need extra usage and plenty of minutes to develop, but the Thunder are running out of time to hand those minutes out and use games from development reps.

Now, injuries have stalled the Thunder’s playoff push this season, and nobody knows what this season could have been for the Thunder since Chet Holmgren was unable to play.

Next season, the Thunder will have Jalen Williams and Josh Giddey having taken a step forward, hopefully, and Chet Holmgren healthy and ready for his debut. Shai GIlgeous-Alexander is a 30 points per game scorer. They’ll have the tools and be ready to try for wins night in and night out.

This hurts Mann, as the Thunder are going to give themselves their best chance to win each and every game, which doesn’t align with playing players extended minutes for development purposes only. Most of the Ousmane Dieng project will be done through the G League, which is fine considering his age and situation, but Mann had an entire season to play big minutes in the league and develop, and that’s gone now.

The experiment isn’t over, but the DNP’s and lack of consistency from Mann’s side isn’t promising. The Thunder are going to have to refocus how they’re going to develop Mann, especially with the impact that both Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins have brought off the bench for the Thunder’s second-unit guard play. Mann is likely the third guy off the bench in a game where the Thunder are competing, and their rotation has been, and will continue to be shortened for the purpose of winning.

The Mann project may have to move to the G League, which would provide some watchability as Mann and Dieng could both develop alongside each other.

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