The Thunder have options for replacing Lu Dort's spot in the starting lineup. Ajay Mitchell has done more than enough to earn that spot.
The Oklahoma City Thunder moved on from Lu Dort this past offseason, which means that they have one open spot in the starting five. Almost unanimously, Cason Wallace and Ajay Mitchell are the two players that people are penciling into that spot.
While Wallace is one of the hottest young names in the entire NBA, Mitchell should start over him. At the end of the day, Mark Daigneault doesn’t have a very hard decision in front of him, as both young players would benefit any starting five, but adding Mitchell to the starting unit would bring something to OKC’s first five that we haven’t seen much before, and that’s an offensively slanted lineup.
Wallace has shown that he can contribute offensively in bigger ways than most thought when he gets the ball in his hands more, but of the two, Mitchell is clearly the better offensive option. The story at the beginning of the offseason was Gilgeous-Alexander playing more off-ball with Team Canada in hopes of implementing that with the Thunder.
Well, if that’s something he and the coaching staff are serious about, there’s no greater weapon on this Thunder roster to put next to him than Ajay Mitchell. He is one of the better playmakers on the team and is very capable of calling his own number and scoring at a high volume when he needs to.
A lineup of Isaiah Hartenstein, Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Mitchell would be one of the most dangerous offensive lineups in the league and wouldn’t sacrifice much on defense.
The San Antonio Spurs did an unbelievable job at keeping the Thunder from scoring in their regular season and postseason matchups. So, making a move towards easier offense and a higher ceiling on that side of the court could be exactly what the doctor ordered.
This also allows Wallace to come in alongside an Alex Caruso to keep the defensive intensity from dropping when the starters leave the court.
Overall, this argument is the definition of Champaign problems, and the Thunder will be fine whichever way they decide to go, but this could be our first look at a lineup with this much potential offense since the Thunder have taken the step up into contending.
There are plenty of minutes to share between Mitchell and Wallace, and the Thunder have long made it clear that the starting position isn't as important in OKC as it is in many other organizations. So, there is no wrong decision, but Mitchell would drastically increase the ceiling of the Thunder’s offense while keeping the defensive DNA the Thunder have thrived on over the last few years intact.
