![\"Jared](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2268054650-e1776070871578.jpg\")
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Jared McCain gets first taste of the NBA playoffs with the OKC Thunder. <\/p>\n
Jared McCain will get his first taste of NBA playoff basketball as the OKC Thunder<\/a> topped the Western Conference with a 64-18 record.\u00a0<\/p>\n McCain, who has yet to play in the postseason during his first one season with the Philadelphia 76ers<\/a>, expressed his excitement after the Thunder wrapped up their regular season on Sunday with a 135-103 loss over the Phoenix Suns<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve talked about it a lot. I\u2019m super excited,\u201d McCain, who had nine points against the Suns, said. \u201cFirst off, I\u2019m just proud of myself for finishing the season\u2026I was just telling (my teammates) that it\u2019s crazy that I\u2019m going to be here. But, I was just grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m super excited for playoff basketball. I\u2019ve watched it all my life, and it\u2019s going to be super fun just to be part of it,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n Jared McCain can\u2019t wait for playoff hoops. <\/p>\n I asked JMac about his excitement for postseason basketball and how his teammates are preparing him.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m super excited for playoff basketball. I\u2019ve watched it all my life, and it\u2019s gonna be super fun just to be a part of.\u201d <\/p>\n McCain has played 29 games for the Thunder since being traded by the 76ers before the trade deadline in February.\u00a0<\/p>\n With OKC, McCain has become a valuable bench cog, averaging 10.5 points on 40.35% shooting from three.\u00a0<\/p>\n McCain is expected to remain in the Thunder\u2019s deep rotation in the playoffs as the squad awaits the No. 8 seed from the play-in tournament.\u00a0<\/p>\n It is the third straight year that the Thunder finished the regular season with the top seed in the West. They won last year\u2019s championship.\u00a0<\/p>\n If OKC wins it all again this year, the team will be the first to snag back-to-back NBA titles since the Golden State Warriors<\/a> in 2017 and 2018.\u00a0<\/p>\n Thunder Head Coach Pleased With Jared McCain\u2019s Integration GettyOKC Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault is pleased with Jared McCain\u2019s integration.<\/p>\n Jared McCain has impressed since arriving in OKC last February. One of those who is pleased to see his addition is Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault, who lauded the second-year guard for fitting well with the team\u2019s culture.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s definitely integrated well. He\u2019s learning his teammates. He\u2019s learning our system and the fundamentals that we emphasize,\u201d Daigneault said last March 20.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cObviously, he\u2019s a very potent offensive player, but he gives up some size and needs to be really fundamental and feisty, and he\u2019s done that, especially lately. So we\u2019re pleased with the progress he\u2019s made there and he continues to be a fan favorite in the locker room just with the way that he\u2019s approached things since he\u2019s been traded here,\u201d he added.\u00a0<\/p>\n McCain has been a focal point in some of the Thunder\u2019s offensive executions over the past two months. Notably, he has connected well in the offensive end with Thunder center Isaiah Hartenstein<\/a>, especially in hand-off plays.\u00a0<\/p>\n With the team\u2019s depth, McCain is seen to give the Thunder\u2019s backcourt an offensive reprieve behind the likes of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/a>, Cason Wallace, and Ajay Mitchell.\u00a0<\/p>\n OKC Thunder Gets Week-Long Break Before the Playoffs GettyThe OKC Thunder will get a week-long rest before the playoffs.<\/p>\n The Thunder will get seven days of rest before playing their first playoff game since winning the NBA<\/a> championship last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n The team will have to wait for the winner of the second play-in game scheduled on Friday, April 17. Game 1 of the first round will then be on Sunday, April 19.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Thunder will play one of the Golden State Warriors, LA Clippers<\/a>, Portland Trail Blazers<\/a> or the Phoenix Suns.\u00a0<\/p>\n The Thunder will have home-court advantage in all their playoff series.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\t\tRob Andrew Lo<\/a> Rob Andrew Lo is a writer at Heavy Sports and is covering the NBA. He has covered local, collegiate, professional and international sports in various sites. He was the sports editor of The Varsitarian, the official student publication of University of Santo Tomas, and a sports, entertainment, and lifestyle writer for Rappler.
\n\t\t\tMore Heavy on Thunder\n\t\t<\/p>\n \n\t\t\t\tLoading more stories\n\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Getty Jared McCain gets first taste of the NBA playoffs with the OKC Thunder. Jared McCain will get…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":709604,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3783],"tags":[7,6,310,475,179,3966,3965,312],"class_list":{"0":"post-709603","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oklahoma-city-thunder","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-nba","10":"tag-oklahoma","11":"tag-oklahoma-city","12":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","13":"tag-oklahomacity","14":"tag-oklahomacitythunder","15":"tag-thunder"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116396939124963898","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709603","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=709603"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/709603\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/709604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=709603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=709603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=709603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Mark](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2268064155.jpg\")
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\nA Journalism graduate from the University of Santo Tomas, he has built his voice across both collegiate and international platforms, previously contributing NBA coverage to Fansided and Sportskeeda.
\n More about Rob Andrew Lo<\/a>\t\t<\/p>\n