Before the Oklahoma City Thunder host their 2025 Media Day, a couple of players helped a handful of children conduct their own version. Later this month, the NBA champions will start their training camp and be on the doorstep of the 2025-26 regular season.
Once the regular season starts, the day-to-day grind begins. When the Thunder are off, they’ll host OKC community events. Ajay Mitchell and Brooks Barnhizer have already started. Both players coached youth athletes Saturday at an Oklahoma YMCA gym.
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Partnering with Love’s Travel Stops, the Thunder hosted 40 athletes from YMCA branches across Oklahoma to participate in a Youth Media Day. It gave the participants a chance to see what an NBA player goes through in Media Day, which is when NBA teams meet up, ala the first day of school.
Mitchell and Barnhizer coached on opposite sides in a scrimmage. Rumble The Bison and other Thunder personnel were in attendance. Saturday’s Youth Media Day also included photoshoots, mock interviews and skills drills for each athlete.
The Thunder will see what they can get out of Mitchell and Barnhizer for the 2025-26 season. Mitchell could fight for the backup point guard minutes. Meanwhile, Barnhizer is a two-way rookie. He will likely spend most of his rookie year on the G League’s OKC Blue.
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Ajay Mitchell, Brooks Barnhizer host OKC kids basketball camp