Summer League Viewing Guide
Oklahoma City's Summer League roster and schedule are now official. OKC will play with a group of teams in Salt Lake City beginning tomorrow, while another group of teams open the California Classic tonight. All teams will be featured in the Las Vegas summer championship beginning July 9.
Here's a full guide of who and what to watch for--for the Thunder and the rest of the league.
Aday Mara (OKC's #12 pick) and Bennett Stirtz (#16) are the headliners for OKC. Otega Oweh (#41)(Conway Twitty's pronunciation guide) is the new, shortest long shot aboard, hoping to prove worthy of a two-way contract. Thomas Sorber and Nikola Topic continue to have mild-but-alarming health dings that will keep them both out of another round of exhibition play.
The 15-man roster is currently full, so the competition for NBA minutes is limited to one or two spots as two-way players. Josh Dix is currently signed. Brooks Barnhizer was extended a two-way qualifying offer (which he has not yet accepted) after playing on a two-way last season. Payton Sandfort's two-year, two-way deal that carried over from last season was waived, but he still has a chance to earn a new one.
Full roster:
Daily Thunder Staff
Daily Thunder Staff
The Ones That Got Away: Watching Other Summer League Teams
If you invest in the NBA Draft before it happens, it's hard not to fall in love. Speed dating dozens of prospects via scouting reports, podcast episodes, and YouTube videos, fans determine which players are most (and least) compatible for their teams...or out of their league. You paint the ceilings and install the floors in your imaginary happily-ever-after home of depth charts and statistical projections. A few fan bases get a honeymoon period, usually through an arranged marriage with the most obvious picks at the very top of the draft.
For the rest of us, the odds are quite low that our matchmaking formulas and urges will align with our team's front office and not be dashed by the predilections of every other franchise drafting ahead of ours. Heartbreak (or, when a GM trades out of the draft altogether, grounds for divorce) is much more common. We're left to gaze longingly into our fading big boards and brace for the jealousy that will cloud our minds when we are forced to watch the players we can't have the next season.
If you're addicted romantic enough to watch exhibition games featuring rookies, G Leaguers, and future accountants pursue their dreams in front of NBA coaches, scouts, and executives, here's a viewing guide with which to guard your heart. Open up the Big Board, drop the needle, and fire up some meaningless summer hoops.
Daily Thunder Staff
Far From Me
Watching rookies 1-9 in the draft shouldn't tinge your heart with much regret. The top four spots in the 2026 NBA Draft proved impenetrable: The teams selecting AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson, Cameron Boozer and Caleb Wilson didn't crack the door to let in teams like the Thunder trade up and snag one of the stars. Picks 5 through 8 were all guards, each hoping to become some version of the primary creator role Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will be MVPing in for years.
OKC has scheduled games against three of the top eight picks: Memphis on July 4 (No. 3 Cameron Boozer), Utah on July 7 (No. 2 Darryn Peterson), and Atlanta on July 6 (No. 8 Kingston Flemings).
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