When the Oklahoma City Thunder acquired Jared McCain at the 2026 NBA trade deadline, immediate expectations were low. After all, the 22-year-old likely needed some time to adjust. It was the first time he was dealt. This move was about the long-term future.
Turns out, McCain needed very little time to get comfortable. Three months into his new tenure, he helped the Thunder push the San Antonio Spurs to an epic seven-game series in the 2026 Western Conference Finals. He dropped 20 points a couple of times.
Now, with a full offseason under his belt, what do the Thunder expect from McCain? According to Sam Presti, a lot of things. He talked in depth about the bench scorer in his 2026-27 preseason press conference. He was all smiles over the recent
addition to OKC's core.
"He had the emotional intelligence, in my opinion, to walk into our environment and navigate that, but also still play with confidence. I think that's a really unique thing," Presti said. "Again, those are the rarities, I think, of high performers."
The Thunder seem to believe McCain has plenty of room to grow. That optimism isn't ill-advised, either. Before a couple of injuries derailed him, he had a sizzling start to his NBA career. The Philadelphia 76ers felt like they had found Tyrese Maxey's long-term backcourt partner. Entering his third year, this is typically when NBA players take their biggest leap.
Considering their offseason moves, the Thunder are banking on that. They moved on from Lu Dort, Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins. Mostly because they were cost-cutting moves. And partially because they believe internal development is about to happen with other members of their roster. One of those is McCain. With a quarter of vacant minutes up for grabs, he's set up well to be a fixture in OKC's rotation.
"I think starting with everybody at a baseline — in training camp like this — is going to do him well. Because there's a lot more to him as a player than a guy who can come off and rip off a bunch of threes," Presti said. "I've watched him for a very long time. He's a winning player. He understands the things that drive winning and intangibly, non-statistically. I think he's a more balanced player than we got to see because he was trying to fit in with the current group."
The Thunder are rolling out the blue-and-orange carpet for McCain. He'll have every opportunity to grow as a go-to scorer. From what Presti said, they're not going to pigeonhole him into a microwave scorer role, either. He's shown flashes of being a competent mid-range shooter. Now, finishing around the rim is the one area he has to really improve on.
Zooming out, the Thunder hope McCain can thrive in OKC's recast of role players. They envision him helping them for the remainder of their title contention window. They won one NBA championship thanks to a roster littered with developmental success stories. Let's see if that can happen again.
"I'm excited to see what Jared McCain is going to do for us," Presti said. "I mean, he's up there with some of the best workers we've had, not just the amount but the quality of the work."
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Sam Presti 'excited' to see Jared McCain take NBA leap with OKC Thunder
