{"id":117305,"date":"2025-01-10T20:43:08","date_gmt":"2025-01-11T01:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=117305"},"modified":"2025-01-10T20:43:08","modified_gmt":"2025-01-11T01:43:08","slug":"thunder-ajay-mitchell-injury-rest-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/01\/10\/thunder-ajay-mitchell-injury-rest-season\/","title":{"rendered":"Thunder\u2019s Diamond In The Rough May Miss Rest Of Season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Oklahoma City Thunder know how to deal with injuries but they\u2019ll still feel the sting of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/mitchaj01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ajay Mitchell<\/a>\u2019s absence.<\/p>\n<h2>Thunder\u2019s Ajay Mitchell May Miss Rest Of Regular Season<\/h2>\n<p>After undergoing a procedure to repair a turf toe sprain, Mitchell will be out for at least the next 10-12 weeks, per a team announcement (h\/t HoopsHype\u2019s Michael Scotto). With the regular season ending on April 13, that means the Thunder could be playing without the rookie until the playoffs.<\/p>\n<p>If so, they\u2019ll have to find a way to replace his production off the bench.<\/p>\n<p>Mitchell has averaged 6.4 points and 0.7 steals in 16.5 minutes per game while shooting 43.1 percent from three. He\u2019s scored in double-figures in 11 games and recorded at least one steal in 17 games. In the nine games he\u2019s played 20 or more minutes, he\u2019s averaging 11.2 points and 1.0 steal per game.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Oklahoma City Thunder guard Ajay Mitchell will be re-evaluated in 10-12 weeks after having a procedure for a turf toe sprain, team says. The rookie guard has been a key contributor off the bench for OKC, averaging 6.4 points on 50.6% shooting overall and 43.1% from 3-point range. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/9ujqIMWAXJ\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/9ujqIMWAXJ<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MikeAScotto\/status\/1877855592657596829?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">January 10, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Though he hasn\u2019t played quite well enough to enter Rookie of the Year conversations, he\u2019s been among the steadiest contributors in the 2024 NBA Draft class. Honestly, his numbers do reflect his general impact. However, watching Mitchell score in a variety of ways will digging in at the defensive end leaves an even more memorable impression.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Ajay Mitchell vs New Orleans Pelicans highlights <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/PeqkLYmvQM\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/PeqkLYmvQM<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/ls4uy01bu3\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/ls4uy01bu3<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 \ud835\udc19 (@homahoops) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/homahoops\/status\/1866311771503632630?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 10, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>In fact, when observing Mitchell\u2019s approach, there\u2019s at least one area where his averages don\u2019t quite capture his skill level. The second-round pick is averaging a modest 1.7 assists per game. Yet, on film, he\u2019s a heads-up facilitator who makes shrewd passes.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s still more of an off-guard. However, he could grow into more of a playmaking role over time. With <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/wallaca01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cason Wallace<\/a>\u00a0now starting more often than he comes off the bench, this would also help the second unit replace the Dallas native.<\/p>\n<h3>Looking Ahead<\/h3>\n<p>Next season, the hope is that the primary ball-handler in the second unit will be Serbian point guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/t\/topicni01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Nikola Topic<\/a>. Nonetheless, Topic is out for the 2024-25 season <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/06\/07\/projected-lottery-pick-suffers-acl-injury\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">thanks to an ACL injury<\/a> and it may take some time for him to play up to his potential. If so, Mitchell becomes that much more important to the Thunder.<\/p>\n<p>That isn\u2019t to dismiss <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/c\/carusal01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alex Caruso<\/a>, who agreed to <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/12\/22\/thunder-alex-caruso-contract-extension\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">a lengthy extension<\/a> with OKC. Like Mitchell though, Caruso isn\u2019t a primary playmaker. As a result, he\u2019s more likely to be part of the connective tissue than the engine. The same holds true for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/joeis01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Isaiah Joe<\/a>, another spark plug in the second unit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Oklahoma City Thunder know how to deal with injuries but they\u2019ll still feel the sting of Ajay Mitchell\u2019s absence. Thunder\u2019s Ajay Mitchell May Miss Rest Of Regular Season After undergoing a procedure to repair a turf toe sprain, Mitchell will be out for at least the next 10-12 weeks, per a team announcement (h\/t [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":117306,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22,1608,62,3],"tags":[49285,4745,49139],"class_list":["post-117305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-thunder","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","tag-ajay-mitchell","tag-nba-injuries","tag-nikola-topic"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117305","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=117305"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117305\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":117307,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/117305\/revisions\/117307"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/117306"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=117305"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=117305"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=117305"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}