Thunder Sign Mara, Stirtz, Three Two-Way Players

Joining the team’s projected 15-man regular season roster are first-round picks Aday Mara and Bennett Stirtz, who officially signed their first NBA contracts. As our breakdown of this year’s rookie scale salaries shows, Mara figures to receive a $5.79MM first-year salary and $27.02MM over four years as this year’s No. 12 pick, while No. 16 pick Stirtz will earn $4.72MM as a rookie and up to $22.82MM in total on his four-year deal.

Mara, a 7’3″ center who won a national title at Michigan this spring, will join a loaded frontcourt that also features Chet Holmgren, Isaiah Hartenstein, Jaylin Williams, and Thomas Sorber. As for Stirtz, the Thunder gave up two future second-round picks to move up one spot from No. 17 to make sure they got him. The 6’4″ guard excelled as a shooter and play-maker for Iowa over the last two seasons.

The Thunder have also signed the following three players to two-way contracts, per the team:

• Otega Oweh, G: The Kentucky wing, who hit one of the most memorable buzzer-beaters in this year’s NCAA tournament, averaged 18.6 points and 1.8 steals per game as a senior. He was the 41st overall pick in last week’s draft after Oklahoma City traded down from No. 37.
• Brooks Barnhizer, G/F: As a rookie, the 2025 second-round pick averaged 1.7 points and 2.0 rebounds in 8.7 minutes per game across 40 appearances off the bench for Oklahoma City. He received a two-way qualifying offer earlier this week and likely simply accepted that deal.
• Josh Dix, G: The former Creighton shooting guard went undrafted last week and quickly agreed to a two-way deal with the Thunder. That agreement is now official.

Oweh, Barnhizer, and Dix will be eligible to be active for up to 50 regular season games and won’t be playoff-eligible as long as they remain on their two-way contracts.

The Thunder now have 13 players on guaranteed contracts and three on two-way deals, with Isaiah Hartenstein and Kenrich Williams set to sign new contracts after the moratorium lifts. While Oklahoma City figures to shuffle non-guaranteed training camp invitees on and off the roster in the coming months, the team’s major offseason work may be done — unless the front office still plans to be active on the trade market.