As the calendar flips to September, we're officially in the quiet zone of the NBA year. Not much will go on until the final days of the month. All of the major offseason moves have already happened. Teams across the league enjoy some serenity before the marathon starts back up again.
The Oklahoma City Thunder will enter the 2026-27 season as co-title favorites — alongside the San Antonio Spurs. Even with their offseason departures, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren should keep them in the middle of the title hunt.
With nothing else happening, Thunder Wire will regularly conduct Thunder Mailbags over the remainder of the offseason. In this edition, a social media user asked — how important is it to secure Ajay Mitchell on a long-term
deal?
do you imagine the FO making any move to acquire value on Ajay? Thinking another extension with him is not affordable and his value to contenders may result in huge draft capital in the coming years with more approns implications
— joao (@Blackened_the) September 1, 2026
Very important, to say the least.
Look, the Thunder went through a summer of cost-cutting moves. They saved the ownership group a boatload of money. They've also kicked the can down the road of a dreadful second-apron year and the franchise-killing penalties that come with that. It won't catch headlines, but Sam Presti had a helluva summer in that regard. Saving your boss money is the ugly part of an NBA GM's job.
Now, the Thunder have to lock down Cason Wallace and Ajay Mitchell to long-term contracts. Both are ideally complementary pieces for the rest of this title window. They've already helped OKC win one NBA championship. They can do so with more later on down the road.
In Mitchell's case, he has two years, $5.8 million left on his current contract. He signed that deal in his rookie year as he was promoted from a two-way player to a standard player. He has a 2027-28 $2.9 million team option that could surely get picked up. But considering how OKC likes to do business, there's a strong chance it just rips apart that option year and instead opts to sign him to a fresh contract extension next summer.
The Thunder have used that playbook a number of times over the years — most recently, with Isaiah Hartenstein this summer. Now, the actual contract figures are the interesting part. The 24-year-old had a breakout season last year. The sophomore guard turned into a 14-point scorer and helped OKC's offense stay afloat as Jalen Williams missed over half of the year with injuries.
By every measure, Mitchell was a breakout star. He's entering this upcoming year as a Sixth Man of the Year favorite. And with a vacuum of vacated possessions up for grabs, most expect his numbers to balloon. But health might be his most important variable this upcoming year. He failed to stay durable for his first two years. He missed three months with toe-turf surgery in his rookie year and then missed OKC's last four games of the 2026 Western Conference Finals with a soleus strain that took until July to get over.
In total, Mitchell played 36 regular-season games in 2024-25 and 57 regular-season games in 2025-26. Those numbers must improve. Especially if he hopes to make the high end of his projected $20-30 million per year numbers that his next contract likely ends up being.
If the Thunder need to open up money on their payroll, there are ways to do that. They could simply trade Hartenstein for assets next summer. Especially if Aday Mara or Thomas Sorber look ready to be NBA centers. Alex Caruso is also on a movable contract. Kenrich Williams is off the books as he's on a one-year deal. There are several ways to finagle money around.
There's no doubting the talent. Mitchell became a household name as he was OKC's second-best scorer in its Round 2 sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers. He has a chance to be a real cornerstone piece for the Thunder in the long run. But the health concerns must be soothed over. That could make contract negotiations really interesting for both sides. As we're seeing with Wallace, this could be your textbook old-school sit-down between both sides that drags on.
All that said, the Thunder must have the same conclusion — get Mitchell on a long-term deal. Even if it means getting into the tax penalty. The whole point of owning an NBA franchise is to win. In its golden era, you can't risk shortchanging your team to save a few bucks. Go all in now so you don't live life with regret.
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: OKC Thunder Mailbag: How important is it to sign Ajay Mitchell to new deal?
