The Oklahoma City Thunder announced Thursday that rookies Aday Mara and Bennett Stirtz will not play in the team’s final two Summer League games, per Thunder beat reporter Brandon Rahbar. Hours later, Oklahoma City lost 97-87 to the Dallas Mavericks without them, dropping to 0-4 in Las Vegas and 0-7 across exhibition play including Salt Lake City.
The shutdown is the real story of the day, because it means the evaluation is over. Mara, the No. 12 pick, and Stirtz, the No. 16 pick, both logged full summer workloads across two venues — Stirtz scored 22 in Tuesday’s near-comeback against Denver, and Mara put up 14 points, seven rebounds and six assists in the same game. The Thunder have seen what they needed to see, and whatever minutes remain in the consolation round belong to the roster-fringe players still auditioning for camp deals.
Against Dallas, the audition belonged to Brooks Barnhizer, who finished with 21 points on 8-of-16 shooting, 12 rebounds, five assists, a steal and a block. Oklahoma City trailed by as many as 22 before cutting the deficit to six in the fourth quarter, a familiar shape for this group — the Thunder have been competitive late in several of the seven losses without closing any of them.
The winless record will draw attention, and it shouldn’t. The parent club won 68 games and a title in 2025, its rotation players are nowhere near Vegas, and summer results have never tracked with October readiness. What Oklahoma City wanted from July was tape on Mara’s rim protection and passing, Stirtz’s on-ball reps and Barnhizer’s two-way motor, and it has all three. One consolation game remains on the schedule.
On the fantasy side, none of this moves redraft value: Mara and Stirtz will fight for scraps of a loaded rotation and are dynasty stashes only, with Mara’s rebounding and assist flashes the more interesting long-term profile. Barnhizer’s summer — back-to-back double-digit rebounding games from the wing — makes him a name for deep dynasty watchlists if he converts his two-way deal into regular-season minutes.
