Check out the all new PLAY hub with puzzles, games and more!<\/a><\/p>\nLooking at their roster, the biggest hole was a lack of ball-handlers. They have Gilgeous-Alexander and Mitchell, but beyond that, it gets ugly pretty quickly. The offensive numbers get dire when neither is on the floor. McCain can help with that.<\/p>\n
Ky, you had the chance to cover McCain\u2019s first one-plus seasons in the league. What do you think he brings to the table for OKC?<\/p>\n
Carlin: He brings charisma, confidence and a sweet-shooting stroke. He also brings his hard hat on a daily basis. He won\u2019t back down from anybody and can produce in any capacity and is willing to do whatever it is his coaching staff asks of him.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s averaging only 6.6 points in his second season, compared to 15.3 as a rookie, but he is shooting 37.8% from deep following a slow start on his return from a meniscus tear in his left knee as well as a torn UCL in his right thumb. He has begun to find his rhythm again and he will fit in nicely around Gilgeous-Alexander as another shooting option for OKC\u2019s offensive attack.<\/p>\n
How McCain got dealt<\/p>\n
Almanza: I\u2019m curious, how exactly did we get to this point? Did you feel like McCain getting moved was a possibility? It\u2019s a little surreal to see a borderline lottery pick moved in their second season \u2014 especially with how his career started. Is this simply just a case where he was buried on the depth chart?<\/p>\n
Carlin: There was a feeling that he could be traded, but he\u2019s also in his second season, so basketball-wise, it didn\u2019t make much sense to move him. He was buried a bit behind VJ Edgecombe, Quentin Grimes, and Tyrese Maxey, but he was beginning to really find his groove after the slow start on the offensive end of the floor. It took him a bit to find that rhythm after recovering from his injuries, but one has to believe the Thunder will give him more playing time when considering their focus on young talent.<\/p>\n
McCain’s injury effects<\/p>\n
Almanza: You mentioned this already, but does it feel like McCain maybe lost some burst with the torn meniscus? That\u2019s always a tricky injury to return from. If so, do you think that\u2019ll limit his impact in the immediate future?<\/p>\n
Carlin: Maybe a little bit, but not much. Again, it was a slow start for him, but he has worked extremely hard to get to the point where he can take defenders off the dribble again and get to the basket. There has been some trouble finishing for him, but he truly has been much better as of late. He was really figuring it out shortly before the trade.<\/p>\n
McCain’s NBA ambitions<\/p>\n
Almanza: Is being near the end of the bench something you think he\u2019ll be cool with? I know he\u2019s played in the G League this season. I think it\u2019s safe to guess he could be assigned there in OKC, too.<\/p>\n
Carlin: He wants to win. McCain is the ultimate team guy and he\u2019s going to fit in that locker room so quickly. He is joining a team that, obviously, has championship expectations, but he is joining a team that\u2019s similar to him in age. That is going to be so helpful for him as he works his way into the team\u2019s culture and finds his fit on this roster. The Thunder are getting a real winner with him.<\/p>\n
McCain’s defensive fit in OKC<\/p>\n
Almanza: Finally, how has McCain held up on defense? That\u2019s something OKC obviously prioritizes. To the point you rarely see Mark Daigneault give leeway to guys who can\u2019t, at the very least, be competent defenders. The size will be a problem, but can he put in enough effort to stay on the floor?<\/p>\n
Carlin: Defense can be iffy at times, but he works relentlessly at it to make sure he is impactful on that end. He isn\u2019t a great one-on-one defender, but he is great at reading passers and making the right jumps in the passing lanes to force turnovers. He is a great team defender, and when considering OKC\u2019s commitment to that end of the floor, it should help him take another step in that area of his game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feb. 5, 2026, 9:00 p.m. CT Shuffling their roster one last time, the Oklahoma City Thunder changed things…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":586005,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3783],"tags":[72400,7,6,310,475,179,3966,3965,30882,72482,72404,74794,72444,72422,72484,72405,72475,72485,72483,72406,312,72403],"class_list":{"0":"post-586004","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oklahoma-city-thunder","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-oklahoma","12":"tag-oklahoma-city","13":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","14":"tag-oklahomacity","15":"tag-oklahomacitythunder","16":"tag-sstssportsnbathunder","17":"tag-sstsnokc-thunder","18":"tag-tagbasketball","19":"tag-tagjared-mccain","20":"tag-tagnational-sports","21":"tag-tagnba","22":"tag-tagoklahoma-city-thunder","23":"tag-tagoverall-positive","24":"tag-tagphiladelphia-76ers","25":"tag-tagshai-gilgeous-alexander","26":"tag-tagsmg-listicle","27":"tag-tagsports-news","28":"tag-thunder","29":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116023167448040742","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586004","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=586004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/586004\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/586005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=586004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=586004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=586004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Dec](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/88538590007-usatsi-27897276.jpg\")
<\/p>\n