Bennett Stirtz Shooting Lights Out For Depleted Thunder

The Oklahoma City Thunder have a standout 1st Round rookie who seems to be getting better and more comfortable by the game.

No, not that one.

The other one.

While first year big man Aday Mara has deservedly received increasingly louder acclaim for his early season impact, OKC has another rookie helping the team win games and raising eyebrows in the process.

Bennett Stirtz, the #16 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, is coming off of back to back double digit scoring games in blow out wins over the Cleveland Cavaliers and Memphis Grizzlies. The former Iowa Hawkeye is averaging 12.0 points over his last four games including a career high 16 against the Cavaliers.

Stirtz has especially excelled as an off ball shooter playing next to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Ajay Mitchell. Throughout his collegiate career from Division II at Northwest Missouri State to Drake to his Elite 8 run at Iowa, Stirtz was always his team's entire offense. For the first time in his career, he does not have the focus of the defense aimed solely on him.

"Super excited. Never got the ability to let others make the game easier for me," Stirtz said during his media day availability of his opportunity to play more off ball with the Thunder. So I'm excited to do that. Excited to catch-and-shoot. So it's going to be something different, and I'm going to have to get used to it, but I'm willing to do it, and just excited to do it as well."

The rookie combo guard is now shooting exactly 50% from 3 point range on the season. He has hit 14 of 28 attempts from deep. It's a small sample size, but Stirtz is flirting with 50/40/90 splits at 53.7% from the field, 50% from 3 and 87.5% from the free throw line. After trading away sharpshooter Isaiah Joe over the summer, the Thunder look to lean on Stirtz and Jared McCain as their primary 3 point shooters and floor spacers.

Stirtz's shooting and scoring prowess are proving to be even more important on a much sooner timeline than anyone ever expected. The loss of Jalen Williams, Chet Holmgren and Cason Wallace to long term injuries has made it necessary for OKC to find scoring from other role players on the roster.

And one of those who is stepping up in a big way is OKC's other 1st Round rookie.