Cason Wallace built on his rookie year by becoming one of the better perimeter defenders in the NBA last season. Only Dyson Daniels and Kris Dunn beat Wallace’s steal percentage among qualified players, and the young Thunder guard held isolation scorers to a mere 0.7 points per possession. 

Are there small tweaks Wallace could make on defense? Of course, but all of his major weaknesses are on the other end of the court. Check out three offensive areas that Wallace needs to upgrade. 

Pick-and-Roll Impact 

According to NBA.com, Oklahoma City scored 0.84 points per possession last regular season when Cason Wallace was the pick-and-roll ball handler. That mark ranked 104th of 157 players (minimum 75 possessions). 

Wallace has a history as a lead playmaker from his time at Kentucky, but it has not translated to the NBA for two major reasons. 

First, defenses do not respect him as an on-ball scorer because Wallace has only made 56 of 158 career pull-up attempts. They are content to drop back and give a 35.4% pull-up shooter all of the space in the world, thus snuffing out any chance of a valuable paint shot from the roller. 

Second, Wallace’s handle is still too loose to reliably shake defenders and create space. He’s struggling to get around defenders and hasn’t mastered the art of using his teammates’ screens. Working on exploiting angles while using screens would behoove Wallace. 

It’s not a huge deal if he doesn’t level up his pick-and-roll impact because Oklahoma City owns an abundance of options to handle this workload. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams headline the list, while backup point guards Nikola Topic and Ajay Mitchell can also run pick-and-rolls when the stars rest.  

However, Wallace becoming stagnant in this department significantly caps his offensive ceiling and essentially boxes him into being a 3-and-D role player. 

Driving 

On a related note, Wallace finished 139th of 162 players in points per drive (minimum 250 drives). His handle and lackluster pull-up jumper contribute to this ranking, but Wallace also often appears passive and hesitant to take risks. 

Oklahoma City’s culture of avoiding turnovers and not forcing bad possessions is definitely a factor, so Wallace cannot be faulted for following the team’s identity. 

It would be nice to see him become a bit more aggressive on drives because that’s how growth occurs. The Thunder love to generate downhill pressure, too. 

Shooting Consistency 

Wallace is a career 38.9% shooter from beyond the arc during the regular season, but he has been at 32% in back-to-back playoff runs now. 

Defenses want nothing more than to show five defenders inside the paint to Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams, but that cannot happen if the Thunder surround them with reliable 3-point shooters. 

If Wallace can level out his shooting consistency by maintaining his regular season success, then it would force opponents into a pick-your-poison situation. The same thing applies to Luguentz Dort. 

3 Areas of Improvement for Luguentz Dort Heading Into 2025-26 Season Luguentz Dort has always been appreciated by the Thunder community as an elite defensive player, but he finally broke through on the national stage last season and made NBA All-Defensive First Team.