Aday Mara Is the Next Superstar Center

Aday Mara Is the Next Superstar Center

Not enough people are talking about Aday Mara. The Oklahoma City Thunder used the No. 12 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft to select 7-foot-3 Michigan center Aday Mara, and he brings a 9-foot-9 standing reach that very few players in the league can match. What he has already put on film at just 21 years old is absurd. He’s also been asked to do a lot right away: Mara has already been anointed as his team’s designated “Wemby stopper” ahead of the 2026-27 campaign. That’s a heavy label for a rookie, but the tools are real.

Defensively, Mara is smart well beyond his age. He doesn’t bite on every pump fake, he holds his ground in one-on-one matchups, and he pairs his obvious size with elite quickness as a weak-side help defender. That combination is rare, and it has shown up in the box score too. In one preseason exhibition against the Hawks, he amassed 17 points, 10 rebounds, six assists and five blocks. Most big men his size are either slow-footed rim protectors or mobile defenders without the length to finish the play. Mara is both.

What excites me most is his offense. For a 7-foot-3 center, Mara is a smooth operator. He can run the floor in transition, catch the pass and dunk it in stride. He has excellent touch around the rim, and in the pick-and-roll he moves like a much smaller player: he can slip the screen, roll hard or stop on a dime. In one preseason game, he produced 22 points on 10-of-10 shooting against the Bucks, and coaches have noticed his passing, too. After one game, Clutchpoints wrote that his outlet passes kept the Bucks’ defense on their heels in the first half. He isn’t close to winning Rookie of the Year, and on a Thunder team with Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein, the minutes won’t always be there. But make no mistake: Aday Mara is going to be a top-five center in this league.