Ajay Mitchell pays respect to late grandmother with best game of NBA career
Ajay Mitchell said today was his late grandmother’s birthday. She was on his mind tonight, as he scored a career-high 26 points in OKC’s huge win over Indiana.
INDIANAPOLIS — Moments before stepping out of the InterContinental hotel and onto the team bus Thursday afternoon, Ajay Mitchell’s phone went off.
It was a text from his mother, Fabienne Wagemans, who never calls the Thunder guard before a game so as to not disturb him too much. But she always sends him some words of encouragement.
“Show who you are,” Wagemans told Mitchell, among other things, in the heartfelt message.
That’s what Mitchell needed to hear before a game with plenty of importance. Not just because it was a rematch of last season’s NBA Finals series between OKC and Indiana, but because it fell on the birthday of his grandmother, Jenny Jacobs, who passed away on Feb. 1 at 90 years old.
“She was very important (to me),” Mitchell said. “She was always there for me. She was definitely on my mind this whole night.”
It would’ve been hard to guess Mitchell was thinking about anything other than the game. His basketball mind looked as sharp as ever, as he sliced through the Pacers’ defense with an impressive level of playmaking.
OKC outlasted Indiana for a 141-135 road win in double overtime. And on a night when the Thunder was down seven players, including All-NBA forward Jalen Williams, Mitchell stepped up. The second-year pro scored a career-high 26 points in 38 meaningful minutes off the bench.
“I’m glad I got to play that way for her,” Mitchell said. “She means the world to me, so I’m glad I did that.”
Wagemans is the youngest of Jacobs’ four children.
She was already the baby of the family. So when she had Mitchell in June 2002, he became the Jacobs’ youngest grandchild. And it was no secret that he was her favorite.
Jacobs would always babysit Mitchell after school in Liege, Belgium, where he grew up. And even though she could no longer drive, she insisted on receiving car rides from Wagemans to watch Mitchell’s games in person.
“She was old already, but she didn’t care,” Wagemans told The Oklahoman. “She would do everything with him. She would always ask to come with me to the games. She was crazy about him. Really crazy about him.”
It was hard on Jacobs when Mitchell moved to California in 2021 to begin his college career at UC Santa Barbara. He couldn’t come home very often, and she didn’t want to fly.
Still, Jacobs supported Mitchell from afar throughout the years as he became one of the top mid-major players in the country. OKC ultimately selected the 6-foot-4 guard in the second round (No. 38 overall) of the 2024 NBA Draft, making him just the second active Belgian player in the NBA. The Thunder signed him to a two-way contract.
Mitchell returned home that summer for about a week, but it was then that Jacobs had a bad fall. He was the one who had to drive her the hospital.
“Since then, she was just in a bad shape,” Wagemans said. “She went in a retirement home, and then she never came out of it.”
Mitchell wasn’t able to attend Jacobs’ funeral in Belgium on Feb. 6. He’d underwent surgery in January to address a turf toe sprain, and he had to travel to Indiana that day to have a checkup with the doctors who did the procedure.
But when he called his mother, he had good news. OKC was signing him to a two-year, $6 million standard contract that day. It was a well-deserved deal for Mitchell, who managed to carve out a role on a title-contending team as a rookie before his injury.
“It was very special,” Wagemans said. “It was not easy for him coming in as a second-round pick. Everybody would think, ‘Oh, he’s a second-rounder. We’ll see. He’s not going to be a very important piece of the team.’ But he’s proving it.”
Mitchell has continued to prove himself since then.
He returned from his injury last season to help OKC win its first championship in franchise history. That helped him earn another contract, this time to the tune of nearly $9 million across three years.
And Mitchell proved himself once again on Thursday. In the beginning, he was tasked with running the second unit. But in the final moments, he was tasked with preventing OKC from running off the rails entirely.
Mitchell played all but three minutes and 25 seconds during the fourth quarter and the two overtimes to fend off Indiana. He showcased his court vision with accurate assists. He battled at the rim with fearless finishes. He outpaced the Pacers with a motor that could rival an IndyCar.
Mitchell shined alongside Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored a career-high 55 points. And when the final buzzer sounded, the exhausted superstar mustered up the energy to walk across the court and hug Mitchell.
“I was proud of him,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “For his opportunity to come and for him to take advantage of it tonight the way he did. I was struggling late in the fourth and into the early overtime, and he was carrying us. I was just overjoyed for him.”
Wagemans was also proud.
That’s what she told Mitchell when he called her right after the game, just like he always does.
“Yeah, Mom,” Mitchell replied. “It’s just the beginning.”
Justin Martinez covers the Thunder and NBA for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Justin? He can be reached at jmartinez@oklahoman.com or on X/Twitter at @Justintohoops. Sign up for the Thunder Sports Minute newsletter to access more NBA coverage. Support Justin’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
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