It didn't take long for the Oklahoma City Thunder to get their money's worth with a new hire. Over the summer, they snatched Maral Javadifar away from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Previously there for seven years as a strength and conditioning coach, she changed roles as an NBA director of athletic performance.
Javadifar's first task at hand? Flying overseas to spend time with Aday Mara. After a sluggish 2026 Summer League that raised red flags over the 7-foot-3 giant's conditioning and stamina, he spent the rest of the offseason locking down on those two aspects.
Between the end of Summer League and Spain's two 2027 FIBA World Cup qualifiers in August, Javadifar helped Mara improve his conditioning in his home country. The grunt work included going
full speed on Spain's beautiful beaches. And the results have quickly spoken for themselves. Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault detailed her arrival to OKC's NBA staff.
"MJ is really talented. She's got a basketball background. She played basketball in college, but then she's been in the NFL since. She's got kind of a range of life experiences and has been a great addition so far," Daigneault said. "The most important thing is great confidence, a great approach. Professionalism, very consistent."
The Thunder and Mara both realize that the latter has to have better in-game speed. Even though his unique 7-foot-3 frame should keep them in the league for a while, if he wants to reach his ceiling, he has to be able to handle the grueling workload of the NBA's pace and schedule. That wasn't the case for the 21-year-old in Summer League, but it has been since then.
In two preseason outings, Mara has been OKC's biggest storyline. Both metaphorically and literally. He's scored an eye-popping 34 points on perfect 15-of-15 shooting and 15 rebounds in two games. Frankly, he's outplayed a group of respectable frontcourt players in Zion Williamson, Derik Queen, Myles Turner and Kel'el Ware.
Oh, and Mara did it playing on a traveling back-to-back in Tulsa and OKC. Both starts, too. He played the first half against the New Orleans Pelicans, but the full game against the Milwaukee Bucks. There have been zero signs of the colossal basketball titan slowing down and needing to catch his breath. In fact, it's been the opposite as he's run the floor for easy transition dunks.
Still super early, but the returns have been extremely promising on Mara. Of course, you credit him for the brunt of the work. But I certainly think there's a correlation between his improved conditioning in just the past four months and Javadifar's arrival in OKC.
"All the people that you guys don't see are such a value to us when they're consistent people because the guys could have a bad game or they could have something going on at home or they could be tired or whatever," Daigneault said. "When they come into the building and they're met with consistent people. It kinda helps them get back to the center. It puts them in the best position to perform and us in the same position to coach."
Mark Daigneault on Maral Javadifar — the OKC coach who worked with Aday Mara’s conditioning this summer: “MJ is really talented. She's got a basketball background. She played basketball in college, but then she's been in the NFL since. She's got a range of life experiences.” pic.twitter.com/4uWTuVqKzQ
— Clemente Almanza (@CAlmanza1007) October 9, 2026
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: How this 1 recent OKC Thunder staff addition has helped Aday Mara improve
