OKC Thunder Mailbag: Will Cason Wallace or Ajay Mitchell be 5th starter?

The Oklahoma City Thunder continue to roll along through NBA training camp. Only a few weeks remain until they're part of Opening Night for the 2026-27 regular season. Expect them to be in the thick of the title hunt all year. Even after their offseason moves.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams suffice as one of the top and most decorated trios in the league. With one championship ring in hand, they're hoping to add another. Two NBA championships in three years would certainly give them a strong start as an all-time team.

Throughout the year, Thunder Wire will conduct regular Thunder Mailbags. As OKC's 2026-27 training camp wraps up, let's look at one question a social media user asked — who should be the fifth starter between

Cason Wallace and Ajay Mitchell?

Cason or Ajay looking more likely to start?

— Chelsea Football Logic (@CFCForAdults) October 3, 2026

We know who four of the starters will be at all times — barring health. Gilgeous-Alexander, Williams and Holmgren are OKC's three best players. That's a two-time MVP winner and two recent All-NBA selections. And since his arrival, Isaiah Hartenstein has been a fixture. He helped transform OKC from a young and ascending team into a grown-up and legitimate title contender with one Larry O'Brien trophy in their display case at the OKC practice facility.

So, who will the fifth spot go to? Well, for seven seasons, it was Lu Dort. But the Thunder jettisoned him to the Atlanta Hawks this past offseason in a cost-cutting move. His most seamless replacement is Wallace. Thunder GM Sam Presti hinted at that in his 2026-27 preseason press conference. He claimed that the ultimate sign of respect they gave the 22-year-old was rolling out the red carpet for him in that trade.

Regardless of whether Wallace gets a contract extension signed before the Oct. 19 deadline, I think he'll be penciled in to the Thunder starting lineup. Heck, he's been their pseudo-sixth starter since he arrived in OKC. In his first three seasons, he started in 114 of 227 career games — 50.2%. Oh, and Mark Daigneault fully trusted the then-sophomore guard on the biggest stage with a surprising Game 1 start in the 2025 NBA Finals.

Now, that doesn't necessarily mean Wallace will close games out over Mitchell. Or that one is more talented than the other. Both should get contract extensions signed soon with OKC over the next 12 months. Aside from the Big 3, they're the most important secondary players in this group. If the Thunder want to keep their title window open for the long haul, keeping them around is a must.

But Wallace starting makes the most sense from a tactical standpoint. You get your best perimeter defender to match minutes with the opposition's best scorers. He should also get funneled plenty of catch-and-shoot looks as defenses sell out to stop Gilgeous-Alexander's drives.

Meanwhile, Mitchell remains in a Sixth-Man role. He broke out last year as a 14-point scorer. He showed he can be a 20-point scorer in a playoff series with OKC's Round 2 sweep over the Los Angeles Lakers. If he comes off the bench again, that's more touches for him as a top go-to scorer. He's shown he can get his own buckets. So he doesn't need to get fed open looks to put up points.

Both players are awesome. Neither has publicly shown they care that much about who starts. But Wallace makes things a lot easier for the Thunder. At least, in a conventional basketball sense.

This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: OKC Thunder Mailbag: Will Cason Wallace or Ajay Mitchell be 5th starter?