The 16th overall pick ignited an otherwise sluggish offensive performance, flashing scoring versatility and elite resilience as Oklahoma City’s newest lottery talent adjusted to NBA physicality.
The Oklahoma City Thunder struggled to find their first Summer League win in Las Vegas after finishing 0-3 in Utah.
While the 96-84 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers fell short of that elusive victory, there were still positives to take away from the Friday night exhibition game. The biggest being Bennett Stirtz.
OKC’s #16 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, the second of their two 1st rounders, scored a team high 18 points. Stirtz started off hot and finished even hitter en route to a 7-14 shooting night including 3 of 8 from downtown. He added 2 assists, 1 steal and 1 block.
It was a good scoring night from the 22 year old, but the former Iowa Hawkeye believes he can do more.
“I just gotta trust it more often, I’m not used to catch and shoot threes,” Stirtz said in his postgame interview. “And I had some open ones and I passed them up. So I just gotta let the ball fly. Trust my shot. But I trusted it later in the game so that was good. Just gotta continue to stack it together.”
Stirtz is no stranger to jumping up in competition. After all, his collegiate career began in Division II when he played for Northwest Missouri State University. He then jumped to Division I at Drake University, a Missouri Valley Conference school. Stirtz then made yet another leap, this time to The University of Iowa in the Big Ten Conference. So what’s it like to now make another jump, the biggest of them all, to NBA competition?
“It’s more physical. Faster paced. Different coverages. Those are probably the three main ones,” Stirtz said in comparing college to the (sort of) pros. “Still getting used to it. And I’ve got a long way to go, everyone does. We’ve got four more games. Looking forward to it.”
While Stirtz was the Oklahoma City headliner of the night, the other Thunder 1st round rookie had a quieter game. Aday Mara, the #12 overall pick out of Michigan, scored 2 points on 0 for 3 shooting. The 7’3” center did add 7 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steal and 2 blocks.
This is probably a good time for a friendly reminder that Summer League is fun to watch and analyze, but it’s difficult to take anything of real substance from the games. These young players barely know each other’s names yet, much less have any on court chemistry or rapport. A player like Mara is going to look different alongside playmaking guards and in an NBA game environment than he does in a glorified pick up game.
Overreactions are unfortunately the norm in Summer League. Both goof and bad. Hot takes and big declarations get the clicks. Nuance and context do not.
Just something to remember as OKC continues to seek out their first win of the summer against Yaxel Lendeborg and the Warriors this Sunday night.
