{"id":150433,"date":"2025-07-06T03:33:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-06T03:33:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/150433\/"},"modified":"2025-07-06T03:33:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-06T03:33:12","slug":"nikola-topic-ajay-mitchell-shine-for-okc-thunder-in-nba-summer-league-loss-vs-grizzlies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/150433\/","title":{"rendered":"Nikola Topi\u0107, Ajay Mitchell shine for OKC Thunder in NBA Summer League loss vs Grizzlies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sam Presti<\/a>, ever ready to temper expectations, stressed the need to give Nikola Topi\u0107<\/a>\u00a0\u201csome grace\u201d ahead of his first real basketball game in over a year.<\/p>\n

Still, the Thunder general manager<\/a>\u00a0said during his offseason news conference that Topi\u0107 had \u201cmade great strides\u201d since selecting the Serbian guard 12th overall in the 2024 NBA Draft.<\/p>\n

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Five days after those comments, it was pretty easy to see what he was talking about as Topi\u0107 finally made his Thunder debut Saturday in a 92-80 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies<\/a>\u00a0in the NBA Summer League<\/a>\u00a0opener in Salt Lake City.<\/p>\n

Topi\u0107, about 14 months removed from suffering a partially torn ACL in his left knee, showed enough flashes of why he was a lottery pick. He picked apart passing lanes for a pair of steals. He initiated offense, creating looks for teammates en route to four assists. He made a couple of pressure 3-pointers, as much as those can exist in Summer League, while finishing with 14 points.<\/p>\n

Yet, there\u2019s plenty of room to grow. Topi\u0107 committed seven of the Thunder\u2019s 23 turnovers.<\/p>\n

All in all, not a bad debut for someone who entered Saturday with zero game minutes in the NBA but one championship parade.<\/p>\n

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Pre-order our new book on the Thunder’s road to NBA Finals<\/a><\/p>\n

More: Thunder GM Sam Presti says Nikola Topi\u0107 ‘made great strides’ ahead of NBA Summer League<\/a><\/p>\n

Nikola Topi\u0107 stats for Thunder vs. Grizzlies in Summer League debut<\/p>\n

Field-goal shooting: 6-for-11 (54.5%)<\/p>\n

3-point shooting: 2-for-4 (50.0%)<\/p>\n

Free-throw shooting:\u00a00-0<\/p>\n

More: NBA Summer League 2025: OKC Thunder roster, schedule and everything else to know<\/a><\/p>\n

Ajay Mitchell\u2019s offensive vision on display\"SALT<\/p>\n

SALT LAKE CITY, UT – JULY 5: Ajay Mitchell #25 of the Oklahoma City Thunder looses control of the ball under pressure from Jaylen Wells #0 and Jeremy Jones #22 of the Memphis Grizzlies during the first half of their NBA Summer League game at the Jon M. Huntsman Center on July 5, 2025 in Salt Lake City, Utah.<\/p>\n

Yeah, it\u2019s only Summer League, but Ajay Mitchell keeps showing why he was such a steal in last year\u2019s draft with every extended run he gets.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s not as if Mitchell was running point against a bunch of future insurance agents with the likes of Jaylen Wells, GG Jackson on the court for the Grizzlies.<\/p>\n

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The former second-round pick showcased his ability to create shots for himself and others, leading the Thunder with 24 points (on 10-for-18 shooting) and six assists in 27 minutes.<\/p>\n

The 6-foot-5 guard out of UC Santa Barbara was limited to just 36 games thanks to a toe injury, derailing a potential All-NBA Rookie season. Mitchell averaged 6.5 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game.<\/p>\n

Presti rewarded the former two-way player with a three-year, $9-million contract<\/a>\u00a0on June 29. That could end up being a massive bargain for a rotational player on a title contender.<\/p>\n

Enjoy watching Mitchell in Summer League while you can.<\/p>\n

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More: OKC Thunder NBA free agency 2025: Tracking latest trade rumors, updates around NBA<\/a><\/p>\n

Brooks Barnhizer, floor-burn guy<\/p>\n

Speaking of second-round draft picks, Brooks Barnhizer<\/a>\u00a0might be able to carve out a role for himself as a floor-burn guy.<\/p>\n

The 6-foot-6 forward tried to spark a late rally with his diving steal and timeout with 4:36 left in the game and OKC down 82-70. The Thunder couldn\u2019t capitalize on the turnover, but it\u2019s the type of play to make a mental note of for down the road.<\/p>\n

Barnhizer had nine points and 13 \u2013 THIRTEEN \u2013 rebounds in his first game since his reaggravating his foot injury Jan. 29 playing for Northwestern.<\/p>\n

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More: Celebrate Thunder’s first NBA title with commemorative page prints, books, gear, keepsakes<\/a><\/p>\n

Jaylen Wells, GG Jackson back in pre-injury form for Grizzlies<\/p>\n

GG Jackson made the All-NBA Rookie Second Team two years ago, but he saw steep declines in all of his counting statistics last season as a foot injury limited him to just 29 games.<\/p>\n

The former South Carolina forward had perhaps the best showing Saturday \u2013 other than OKC\u2019s Ajay Mitchell \u2013 scoring 20 points on 8-for-15 shooting.<\/p>\n

Fellow Memphis forward Jaylen Wells also scored 20 points (on 5-for-14 shooting) in his first game back from a scary fall in April in which he broke his wrist.<\/p>\n

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More: Thunder vs Grizzlies recap: Nikola Topi\u0107 debuts for OKC in NBA Summer League opener<\/a><\/p>\n

Up next for Thunder<\/p>\n

Former William & Mary standout Daniel Dixon<\/a>, who is coaching the Thunder\u2019s squad in Salt Lake City, will lead OKC against the Philadelphia 76ers in Game 2 of a three-game stay in Utah at 6 p.m. Monday (ESPN).<\/p>\n

Jeff Patterson is the sports editor for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Jeff? He can be reached at jpatterson@oklahoman.com or on X\/Twitter at\u00a0@jeffpattOKC. Support Jeff’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: Nikola Topi\u0107 returns from ACL injury for Thunder in NBA Summer League<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sam Presti, ever ready to temper expectations, stressed the need to give Nikola Topi\u0107\u00a0\u201csome grace\u201d ahead of his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":150434,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[5577,7,8496,1265,2597,177,6,3494,3110,878,207,3136],"class_list":{"0":"post-150433","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-ajay-mitchell","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-brooks-barnhizer","11":"tag-gg-jackson","12":"tag-jaylen-wells","13":"tag-memphis-grizzlies","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-nba-summer-league","16":"tag-nikola-topic","17":"tag-okc-thunder","18":"tag-philadelphia-76ers","19":"tag-sam-presti"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114804189120481671","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150433","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150433\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}