Making Sense of OKC Thunder's Backup Point Guard Situation

Ajay Mitchell could be the biggest sleeper currently on the roster of the Oklahoma City Thunder. He's shown tremendous growth through his rookie season in only a limited time and showed out during the Summer League, most recently.

At the same time, the Thunder have a former lottery pick from the 2024 draft, one who was tabbed as one of the best players in the class before injuries killed his draft stock. Serbian guard Nikola Topic, who was debuted by the Thunder in this year's Las Vegas Summer League, also has minutes he will find.

So, OKC has two very capable players to run the backup point guard spot. They are both young and still have plenty of steps in their developmental process to go through, but it's now a safe assumption to make that they can both play minutes this coming season.

So, who will earn those backup minutes behind OKC's star, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander?

To start, Mitchell likely will have a claim to those minutes. He has a year in the system and will have no learning curve whatsoever when he starts playing at the beginning of the 2025-26 season. Mitchell has already shown that he can compete in the NBA and, in fact, he's earned the minutes he will receive.

At the same time, Topic is too good and witty not to play. There will be plenty of learning moments for Topic and he will have to adjust to the NBA's pace of play, but it should be expected that he's ready to distribute and make good decisions from day one.

The fact that Topic still has to get used to the NBA obviously puts him at a disadvantage. Some of the errors he was making at the beginning of the Summer League were evident as to what he could struggle with at the beginning of his NBA career.

So for now, Mitchell has the depth chart claim to the backup spot. There's no reason they can't play on the court at the same time and they aren't the only two on OKC's projected bench who can dribble and pass the basketball. They have the most traditional skillsets for a point guard so they are slotted into that spot, but certainly Mitchell and maybe Topic can play off the ball.

Both will still have to make the most of the minutes they receive and continue to make good decisions when they're commanding the offense, but there are plenty of signs that signify that they will be able to do so.