The Thunder Struck Gold Again with Ajay Mitchell | Rachel Nichols & Chris Mannix
Chris Mannix and Rachel Nichols break down the play of sophomore Thunder guard Ajay Mitchell and why another second round draft steal by Sam Presti has the Thunder poised to keep their core locked in for years
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The Thunder Struck Gold Again with Ajay Mitchell | Rachel Nichols & Chris Mannix
https://www.youtube.com/@SportsIllustrated
35 Comments
Remember, Ajay Mitchell missed a huge chunk of last year due to injury. His rookie campaign was just this impressive, but came back in the throws of the final press of the last ten games of the regular season. His main reps after that came in the form of garbage time of their playoff run. He's got a ring in his first season, he's looking to earn that second.
That's pretty terrifying.
Great Pod. Go Thunder
He's been around a few years, but Aaron Wiggins was a second round pick too.
If you look at OKC rosters
– Mitchell 2nd round
– J will 2nd round
– Aaron wiggins 2nd round
– barnheizer 2nd round
– lu Dort undrafted
– Carlson 2 way player
– young blood 2 way player
Chet is the only draft pick in the top 10 on the team
– j dub 12
-Wallace 12
– dieng 11
– SGA was 13th pick originally
-Caruso was undrafted
With all the picks OKC have had they haven’t really had much with the lottery, eventually they will get another high lottery draft pick from another team with all the picks they’re owed, that’s what makes us scary. The players we have are killing it on minimal contracts around the big 3 so that’s why when team gets expensive we can continue to plug and play and not worry about the aprons like the Celtics did or like a lot of teams do
Drafted 38th overall by OKC, 2-way contract in July 24, signed for rest of season in Feb 25 then contract in July 25 after the finals
Thunder Up! ⚡️🦬🏀
Thunder are loaded with injuries 2:01
And Houston took Reed Shepard with their top 10 lottery pic 🤷♂️
Presti has an unbelievable eye for talent & most importantly the PERSON!!! No knuckleheads in OKC …just guys who work really hard & live the right way
Hello from Tulsa Oklahoma. I'll give you the secret of OKC Thunder success. This is my opinion, you might disagree, but I will tell you what I witness. It's chemistryCHEMISTRY. And this starts with HANGING OUT. I am not kidding. Pick Top 3 players from each team. (For Thunder it would be SGA, J-Dub and Chet Holmgren) I bet OKC Top 3 spend MUCH MORE TIME together with each other than ANY OTHER TEAM''S Top 3. That's my bet. And it's beyond those 3. They are ALWAYS together. They play video games, go to movies, work out, go out to eat, They are ALWAYS together. And Sam Presti doesn't bring random people to this group. Ja Morant, Westbrook, Durant types would NEVER make it to this team, no matter how good they are. Wait until you guys see Youngblood. I bet no one knows his name right now. He is another "team" player (like Jaylin Williams or Dort or Barnhizer) This chemistry has not been achieved in NBA before (or maybe there was and I am not aware of it) These people are TRUE FRIENDS with each other, Westbrook is so great but he is TERRIBLE for a locker room like this.
This is a speculation but here is what happened with Ajay Mitchell. Sam Presti asked NY Knicks and found out that Knicks are not interested in Ajay Mitchell because he wouldn't anything Knicks looking for so he told them, hey pick Ajay at 38 (second round) for us. And we'll give you number 40 (second round) and some cash. So NY Knicks picked Ajay with the intention to give to Thunder. and they were poing tp pick two spots later and they traded that second round 40th pick to Phenix Suns for 56th pick and Knicks picked Kevin McCullar Jr for that 56th pick andgot a future second round pick from Phoenix. Brilliant move by Sam Presti. Ajay Mitchell worked out with Thunder prior to the draft MANY times. Sam Presti actually went to UC Santa Barbara multiple times to watch Ajay Mitchell LIVE during college season. he went to UC Barbara vs San Diego and vs Hawaii games in person. Sam Presti is just AMAZING in picking talent.
There's something to be said about the type of player who would be interested in Oklahoma City. They're the type of guys you want in your locker room.
Do i hear 6th man of the year
Thunder have the same number of wins as Golden State the past 16 seasons. Presti is so consistent.
Ajay looks like a bigger and stronger Mike Conley. It’s ridiculous. Wiggins, and JWill are two more 2nd round picks who are producing. Plus you got Kenrich and Dort who weren’t drafted but can play.
I’m surprised somebody like LA or Chicago hasn’t offered Presti $50 million a year to be their GM. He’s more valuable than any single player at this point
You didn't even mention Aaron Wiggins who is a 2nd round guy on a long-term DECENDING contract who could start at 2-guard for any other team in the association and the complete unknown Nikola Topic who is yet to be seen. Chris is right; it isn't fair… Presti is a mad genius.
He's like a 2K mycareer player with a storyline
I guess you have to be an OKC fan to have already known how good AJ was last season. He was just injured.
Golden state warriors the best franchise currently. We have 4 rings and number 5 coming this season. Okc barely got the 1. And they got lucky Tyrese got injured.
Presti for President 2028
As a true “FAN-ATIC” of the 🌩️we seen this day 1 last year. I’m not surprised at all of “Ajay’s” leap at all. The scary part is HIS GONNA GET BETTER👀
🦬🌩️🥶🔶🏆🔶🥶🌩️🦬
⚡️⚡️THUNDER🆙⚡️⚡️
And wiggins was the 55th pick he’s balling
Where were you last year before he got hurt.. the cat can play ball .. Wiggs is really good, I Joe is really good.. welcome to the Thunder Way … it’s not new
Look at the cities and eras (# of NBA teams) that West, Ainge and Riley were active…and Presti is working magic NOW.
As OKC fan I’ll let you know that if you play defense, you’ll get time on to court
Neither of these two know wtf they are talking about, holy shit. Thank God for Rachel's looks but wtf does this bozo bring to the table? I'm a OKC fan and saying Ajay Mitchell is a borderline all star might be the single most retarded statement I've heard all year
Will Dawkins (gm of the wizards) was a Presti guy and he is turning them around right now.
Kawawa na economy natin sa nangyayari. Ang bagal ng action ng government.
Ganda ng usapan nila. May nag aagree. May nag didisagree. Pero respectful. Now a fan of this show.
As an native okie of oklahoma city I remember a time where main superstars didn't even wanna step foot in okc. #ThunderUP 💙🧡🏆🏀
Presti if he isn't the best GM in the NBA right now, he's not far from the top. That first OKC team could have stayed together they would have won. They were talented. Injuries bit then a few years. Greed of players wanted more broke them up. Then he built it again. That's hard to do. Riley didn't really build a team he bought a team. Had LeBaby and Bosh went elsewhere Miani was a nothing. They are a nothing now. Over the last 18 years who's been better? That's when h got to OKC. I don't think anyone was. West was close. West is like Presti and amazing eye for talent.
This was a good segment!
Let's hear that AJ mitchell talk!!!
Besides Jerry West and Pat Riley, RC Buford/Pop needs to be given some respect for 20+ years of excellence. Sam Presti comes from that Spurs GM tree
RC Buford ???