Dribbling the ball at the elbow, Aday Mara went to work at Jock Landale. The 21-year-old backed down the NBA journeyman. He banged into him once before finessing with a quick turnaround fadeaway jumper. The ball swished through the net. The 7-foot-3 monster showed he can do more than just use his sheer manpower to get buckets.
The Oklahoma City Thunder fell once again in a 113-110 preseason loss to the Atlanta Hawks. That said, they accomplished their mission with the short-handed roster as both prized prospects balled out.
Mara finished with 17 points on 4-of-9 shooting, 10 rebounds and two assists. He shot 0-of-1 from 3 and went 9-of-12 on free throws. He also had four blocks.
As soon as you think Mara-Mania has reached its peak, he continues
to add fuel to the fire. This time, he showed he can be the main engine of an offense. Even if this wasn't a real NBA game. In their latest test of his abilities, the Thunder ran their whole show through him. They fed him the ball at the top of the arc. The added responsibilities didn't faze him.
"Mara has the capacity to do that, but that hasn't been the foundational priority for his development so far," Mark Daignault said. "But he's done such a good job at handling his business on those priorities that tonight, I thought I'd afford him an opportunity to play through him a little bit. And establish a baseline of where that skill is."
Instead, Mara showed that he can handle the workload. He bullied his way to the rim. Several of his buckets happened at the rim. Rolling to the basket, he rewarded his pick-and-roll partners with assists. Safe to say that the Thunder have a real-life, old-school lob threat on their roster now. Expect them to completely spam that weapon throughout the year.
Not just that, but Mara showed off his touch with a fade-away jumper. Embracing physicality was one of the many critiques he faced following his 2026 NBA Summer League. In this game, he showed how far he's come in three months. Not only did he welcome it, but he initiated a ton of body-on-body contact as he banged down low. The Hawks had no answers as he enjoyed a parade of free-throw attempts.
Oh, and Mara hit his free throws at a surprisingly decent clip. As an aside, that might be the most surprising variable of his busy night. After all, he was a below-60% free-throw shooter at Michigan just last year. Quite the transformation in that area of his game. At least for this one night as Atlanta kept hacking him.
I mean, Mara is just playing in another plane of existence right now. His college domination has translated over to NBA preseason basketball. The next step is to see if it can happen when the games really matter. He's a cheat code on offense when he's around the rim. And his defense completely warps the halfcourt geometry for the opposition. Not only do you account for his shot-blocking, but his sheer size takes up so much real estate in the paint.
Mara has been superb in the preseason and the national folks are starting to take notice. The Thunder are on the precipice of another big-time draft hit. Something that this franchise desperately needs as they retooled the complementary pieces around their roster this past summer.
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: OKC Thunder orbit offense around Aday Mara in preseason loss to Hawks
