Brooks Barnhizer's selection in last June's 2025 NBA Draft brought a chorus of cheers to the Northwestern fanbase. After an exceptional four-year career in Evanston, "The Captain" was headed to the NBA, marking the first former Wildcat to be drafted since Evan Eschmeyer in 1999.

But just one year later, Barnhizer will be fighting for his life to remain on the Oklahoma City Thunder's roster. The defending champions were officially eliminated from the postseason last weekend and will be looking for any possible avenue to make their roster Victor Wembanyama-proof over the coming months.

The Thunder are facing a good problem to have. They're incredibly talented at the top, featuring MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and All-Stars Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams, but they also have depth and youth. Thanks to a series of prior trades, Oklahoma City also has two first-round picks this year at No. 12 and No. 17 overall.

OKC's roster is so stacked, and that's without most of the team's draftees from the past two years significantly contributing on the court. The Thunder picked Nikola Topic, Dillon Jones and Ajay Mitchell in 2024, then Thomas Sorber and Barnhizer in 2025. None impacted Oklahoma City's title run last season, while only Mitchell got significant burn in 2025-26.

That leaves the Thunder at a crossroads. They're on track to be the most expensive team in NBA history next season, but came up short in the 2026 postseason and have several young players who aren't able to crack the rotation. Barnhizer could be the odd man out.

At the G League level, the No. 44 overall pick appeared in 21 games with averages of 18.2 points, 8.9 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.5 steals per game. He shot 56.7% from the floor and 50.0% from three, knocking down 22 of his 44 attempts from deep.

But Barnhizer's NBA opportunities were much more limited, averaging 1.7 points and 2.0 rebounds over 40 games. There is room in the NBA for a versatile, 6-foot-6 defender with a 6-foot-11 wingspan. The question is whether Barnhizer's shooting (38.0% FG, 29.2% 3P in NBA games) is too much of a deficiency to keep him on the active roster.

Additionally, Barnhizer would be very cheap for a team that will be struggling with the second salary cap apron. He was on a two-way contract making just $2.1 million last season, and if the Thunder decide to keep some of their 2026 draftees on two-way contracts instead, Barnhizer would be an affordable choice for OKC's 15-man unit.

The biggest problem for Barnhizer is that he's already 24 years old and not one of the essential players for the Thunder yet. Behind stars Gilgeous-Alexander, Williams and Holmgren, Oklahoma City's rotational core of Alex Caruso, Isaiah Hartenstein, Jaylin Williams, Cason Wallace, Jared McCain and Ajay Mitchell are all locked in as necessary components to the Thunder's title quest.

That doesn't even include longtime defender Lu Dort, who has a $17.7 million team option this summer but is undoubtedly a key piece of OKC's championship DNA. These nine athletes — 10 if the Thunder pick up Dort's option or resign him — are all higher than Barnhizer on the totem pole. Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins have also played significant roles for Oklahoma City and are under contract next season.

Then comes Sorber, the 6-foot-10, 20-year-old center who did not play in his rookie season due to a torn ACL. In Oklahoma City's quest for a solution to Wembanyama, the former No. 15 overall pick that's under contract could be an intriguing fit next to Holmgren. The 2024 NBA Draft's No. 12 overall pick, Nikola Topic, has hardly seen the court either after tearing his ACL prior to his rookie season and battling cancer as a sophomore.

To top it all off, the Thunder have the Nos. 12, 17 and 37 overall picks in this month's draft, despite not having the cap space to sign them all. In an incredibly deep player pool, it's quite likely that OKC views the players they select with those first two picks — potentially Michigan's Yaxel Lendeborg and Texas' Dailyn Swain — as more beneficial to the Thunder's title hopes than Barnhizer.

Prediction: Oklahoma City signs Barnhizer to a two-way contract again while rostering Gilgeous-Alexander, Holmgren, both Jalen and Jaylin Williams, Caruso, Hartenstein, Wallace, McCain, Mitchell, Dort, Sorber, Joe, Wiggins and the Thunder's two first-round picks. Topic is traded to a team willing to bet on his upside, while the team declines Dort's option and re-signs him on a deal significantly below market value.