Cason Wallace Draws Praise From OKC Thunder Teammate

Oklahoma City has experienced so much growth this postseason, but that's stating the obvious. For the youngest team in the NBA, growth was the only option to achieve lofty expectations.

This Thunder team has deployed a deep rotation throughout the entire playoffs, and for a lot of them, it's just their second playoff run. This is also the furthest this iteration of the Thunder has ventured into the postseason, now just one game away from the NBA Finals. As the stage has gotten bigger, Oklahoma City's players have risen to the occasion.

From top to bottom, it's easy to pinpoint "playoff moments" for nearly all of Oklahoma City's rotation players. Led by the team's three-headed monster in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, and Chet Holmgren, everyone has played their part. The postseason is where teams find out if their players are built for the moment, and can rise to the occasion. OKC has a handful of those, but Cason Wallace has cemented himself as a playoff riser.

Wallace's box score won't wow you most nights, but that should be no surprise. He's learning from Lu Dort and Alex Caruso's school of impact outside the stat sheet. Wallace has played stifling defense on Anthony Edwards and has caused positive chaos for the Thunder on that end of the floor. He has had numerous deflections and steals leading to points.

He hasn't had any scoring outbursts, but he seems to always knock down a big shot. In Game 4, he drilled two contest midrange jumpers in the second half that, somehow, came off his fingers like second nature.