OKC Thunder play with new toy in Aday Mara in preseason loss to Bucks

Getting the ball at the baseline, Aday Mara went to work. With Kel'el Ware on his back, the 21-year-old showed off his footwork in the post. A fakeout bought him space. Milwaukee's latest prized addition bit on his fake. That allowed OKC's recent lottery pick to hit the spin move and beautifully feather the ball through the net.

Mara finished with 22 points on 10-of-10 shooting, six rebounds and two assists. He shot 2-of-3 on free throws. He also had one block.

The Oklahoma City Thunder dropped another one with a 128-126 preseason loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. But the first half made the second-half meltdown an afterthought.

After an awesome preseason opener, how will Mara follow up? The Thunder were as intrigued by the answer as the fanbase itself.

With Chet Holmgren, Isaiah Hartenstein and Jaylin Williams ruled out, they cleared the deck for him to start. Not only to see how he gels with the main rotation players, but to see how he responds to his first taste of the NBA's grueling back-to-back schedule. Especially since his conditioning was a big summer talking point.

Let's just say we've reached a fever pitch in Mara's hype. He was absolutely fantastic. Like a kid driving everywhere during their first week of owning a license, the Thunder spammed the heck out of pick-and-roll actions with him. Several teammates can thank his endless catch radius for easy assists. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander set the trend. Once OKC realized how much of a cheat code his rim-running was, that's all they ran for a section of the game.

And then on defense, Mara was a brick wall. The Bucks tried it a couple of times. But to little avail. Any concerns about the Gatorade symbol popping up underneath his sneakers were barely remembered throughout his one-man show against a beefy frontcourt of Ware and Myles Turner.

I mean, I don't want to get hyperbolic, but Mara has been an absolute home-run addition. At least through two preseason games. The Thunder have tested his limits both with his endurance and with how often they feature him on offense. He's aced both nights with flying colors. It's amazing just how NBA-ready he looks from the jump. His sluggish Summer League days feel like forever ago.

Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault has noticed that the players are learning on the job with Mara. I think we can safely assume none of them have had a 7-foot-3 teammate before. Not at the NBA level, at least. They're doing the basketball equivalent of video-game button-mashing.

"I think the guys have learned. It's interesting. We haven't emphasized a lot outside of our fundamentals. It's just interesting to see how the guys have responded to him," Daigneault said about Mara. "They've learned that he outlets the ball deep, so they're getting the ball. They're getting up the floor in the outlet. They're looking for more rolls. They understand the gravity of somebody that size who's got the hands he does."

When the Thunder added Mara, they added a player archetype they've never had before. Not with Kevin Durant. Not with Russell Westbrook. But Gilgeous-Alexander and friends get the perk of a gigantic basketball player. It took one half for them to play with their latest toy and how fun it is to have a seven-plus-footer who needs very little elbow room to go up for a Little-Tikes-esque layup or putback.

This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: OKC Thunder play with new toy in Aday Mara in preseason loss to Bucks