Tre Mann’s Disappointing Season Could Lead to Thunder Taking Guard in 2023 NBA Draft

Tre Mann has a ton of potential but has disappointed over his first two years and that could mean the Thunder will look at drafting a guard this year.

There’s no doubt that Oklahoma City’s No. 18 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, Tre Mann, is brimming with potential.

At 6-foot-4, with a deadly change of pace, the former Florida Gator is a threat to score at any time but just hasn’t quite found consistency as a shooter, or finisher, in his first two years in the NBA.

Towards the end of the 2021-22 season, the Thunder handed the reigns to Mann and gave him plenty of time to showcase his talent as a lead guard, but he averaged just 14.9 points on 39 percent shooting from the floor, posted just a 14.4 free throw rate, and recorded only a slightly positive assist-to-turnover ratio in about 30 minutes over the team’s last 26 games.

Last season, Mann continued to show more of the same. 

The sophomore guard played in a more limited role largely due to the emergence of free agent signee Isaiah Joe and rookie phenom Jalen Williams but still posted disappointing numbers. Through 67 games, Mann averaged only 7.7 points on 39.3/31.5/76.4 shooting splits — not great numbers for a guy who was drafted to put the ball in the basket.

But though his scoring numbers and other analytics don’t paint a pretty picture right now for the 22-year-old, the former first-round pick has had his bright spots. Across his first two years, Mann has impressed with a couple of 30-point outings versus Boston and New York as well as several 25-point outings against teams like Miami, San Antonio, and Dallas.

Big time game from OKC rookie Tre Mann last night. Showed all the shot making flashes that made him such an intriguing prospect last draft. Stepbacks, pullups, logo range. Attacked Boston’s bigs on switches. Next developmental step is leveraging his scoring to playmake for others pic.twitter.com/66K2NymPhU

— NBA Draft Dude 🤙 (@CoreyTulaba) March 22, 2022

Overall, Mann still just hasn’t shown the consistency you’d like to see from such an exciting guard prospect. That disappointment could result in the Thunder searching for another guard prospect to develop in the 2023 NBA Draft. And even though they already have two talented ball-handlers in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey, the Thunder have shown a recent proclivity for having not one, not two, but several ball-handlers on the floor at the same time.

If the Thunder do decide that they aren't really sure about Mann, there will be multiple talented guards in the draft they could choose to target including Keyonte George, Kobe Bufkin, Nick Smith, and Jalen Hood-Schifino, and even Amen Thompson or Anthony Black.

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