A summer filled with celebration nears its end. Only a month remains until the Oklahoma City Thunder start the 2025-26 regular season. The NBA champion has enjoyed its accomplishments, but soon a new marathon will start with them at the top.

Bringing back mostly the same roster, the Thunder are the consensus title favorite. They’re viewed as a team that could pull off the rare feat of being a back-to-back champion. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren all signed contract extensions this offseason to keep their title window wide open.

To prepare for the 2025-26 regular season, Thunder Wire will lay out three goals for all 17 players on the roster. OKC has 15 standard players and two two-way players. Let’s look at Brooks Barnhizer and what he could accomplish this upcoming year:

Develop a jumper

This will be the make-or-break skill. Barnhizer became a fan favorite at Northwestern in his four seasons by leaving it all on the floor. Thunder fans saw a glimpse of that in the Summer League. He will play with an extra boost of energy and try hard on defense. Diving for a loose ball could give OKC some extra energy during the mundane parts of the regular season.

That said, Barnhizer must develop a jumper. It was nonexistent at Northwestern. But you won’t be able to get away with that in the NBA. That will be his biggest project this upcoming season. Most of his looks will be on the catch-and-shoot variety. That means he must hit them at a reliable clip or risk not being able to stay in the league.

Show out in G League

Because Barnhizer is on a two-way deal, expect him to spend plenty of time in the G League. The second-round rookie won’t see much action in his season. Expect him to be a prominent starter on the OKC Blue. That’s where he can test out any tweaks he makes to his jumper.

If Barnhizer has NBA ambitions, he must show out against the G League competition. That’s the only way to separate yourself from the rest of the players who are trying to get an NBA deal. He can do that by repeating what he did at the Summer League. He can defend well, rebound the ball and make the right decisions with the ball.

Return for 2nd season

Just because Barnhizer was drafted, doesn’t mean he’s guaranteed to stay for multiple seasons. The Thunder have moved on quicker from players than they previously have. Both Keyontae Johnson and Dillon Jones were moved after one season. It’s part of the NBA business. That means he must impress behind the scenes, as he likely won’t be able to do so on the court.

The Thunder have plenty of draft picks coming up in the next few years. That means they can afford to move on from players. Barnhizer was the No. 44 pick, which means there’s no real sunk-cost fallacy involved. If he can show enough to return for a second season, then that’d be a win for him.