Summer league is a certain sort of spectacle. I used to want to go, but I’m good now. For many reasons, I think it’s best to experience Vegas in July from somewhere outside of Vegas, but it does mean I miss out on little quirks in person. For example: people I know from online but don’t especially want to meet. And seemingly every game having a drive into the paint resulting in a kickout pass to a corner in which nobody is standing. Or the way the crowd absolutely dies by the second weekend. It’s a positive experience!
But the positive experience ends. I don’t feel like saying the marketing cliché, but it applies in that summer league is kind of its own little world, both for the attendees and the players. Some are already shut down until the season. Others are still trying to prove their worth.
For Ajay Mitchell, it feels like he already has. His NBA Summer League stats had been consistently impressive before his breakout game last night. Over the course of all 2025 Summer League games, he’s averaging just about 20-5-5 in under 27 minutes while shooting 47.5 percent from the field and 40 percent from three at about five attempts from beyond the arc per 36 minutes. That’s not bad volume for a second-year player.
Beyond scoring, his work on the boards and as a playmaker should also be touted. (Remember Tout? I have one very specific memory of Tout. I don’t want to talk about it. I wonder if Tout had won instead of Vine if it would have also been shut down eventually for no good reason whatsoever. Nice job.) In his last five games, Mitchell has grabbed just about 7.5 rebounds and distributed about 7 assists per 36 while maintaining a positive assist-to-turnover ratio.
Also, if I’m doing basic math right on the game logs, Mitchell is contributing 2.888 (repeating) stocks per 36 in addition to all the offense and clean up work. And also he’s 6-foot-4 with a positive wingspan, not big for a guard but definitely fit for the point position. Maybe defense isn’t necessarily his selling points, but he does do stuff. He’s a stuff doer.
So Ajay Mitchell is good. So is the rest of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The unfortunate truth of Summer League is that for certain players, the path to minutes on their team just might not be available. The Oklahoma City Thunder just won the NBA Championship, the second-youngest team ever to do it, and followed that up by locking in not just their big three, but contributor after contributor. Sometimes pieces of a championship team break off to find a bigger contract or opportunity elsewhere (think Bruce Brown).
Or they can all just stay and Oklahoma and be scary as hell for years and years,
So Ajay has been fantastic. It really may not matter unless there are injuries or other misfortunes coming to the Thunder this year. Thunder Coach Mark Daignault likes playing all of his guys, but when it got to the Finals, his rotations generally amounted to eight or maybe nine guys playing meaningful minutes. Assuming no hangups, it’s difficult to see him cracking this top nine in minutes played. And you have to account for Topic coming in after his injury, whose main position is also point guard.
It’s complicated. Ajay Mitchell has been everything anyone could hope from him. The Thunder just don’t need to hope right now.