The Thunder's 2026-2027 Rookie Class Preview with Derek Parker

All right, let's get into some fun stuff, or maybe not fun stuff, but we had media day today, which usually can be a lot of fun.

We get some big takeaways.

We get to talk to guys for the first time, which is really fun.

Anything stand out to you about today?

I don't know that it did, and I don't mean that in a bad way of like, you know, this isn't an interesting team and they're not set to have another year of contention or anything like that.

I think it is a massively interesting team.

I think there are probably more storylines heading into this season than there have been in previous, where obviously they won the title and they went to seven games with San Antonio.

But I think that's a positive thing, right? Like, I think there's a lot of teams out there, we could get into specifics, that probably didn't want to have headlines come from their media day.

They probably didn't want that at all.

So...

Nothing massive stood out to me.

I didn't think there were any bombshells.

Obviously, you know, being around the beat, being in this industry for a decent amount of time, you pick up on little stuff that I'm sure we'll get into.

But again, there were no bombshells.

There were no front of ESPN headlines, which I think is a good thing for the Thunder who have essentially kind of turned the page.

We're past the San Antonio series.

We're heading into a new season.

And I think that's a good thing.

Yeah, not not always great for what we're trying to do in terms of drum up conversations, but for a fan.

And then if you're a team, having a lack of questions about your team is an awesome place to be in.

I mean, really, the only questions are about health and then some of the rookies that we're going to get into later.

Main takeaways.

Everyone loves Jared McCain.

That's what I came away with.

Everybody loves Jared McCain.

All right, let's get into some fun stuff, or maybe not fun stuff, but we had media day today, which usually can be a lot of fun.

We get some big takeaways.

We get to talk to guys for the first time, which is really fun.

Anything stand out to you about today?

I don't know that it did, and I don't mean that in a bad way of like, you know, this isn't an interesting team and they're not set to have another year of contention or anything like that.

I think it is a massively interesting team.

I think there are probably more storylines heading into this season than there have been in previous, where obviously they won the title and they went to seven games with San Antonio.

But I think that's a positive thing, right? Like, I think there's a lot of teams out there, we could get into specifics, that probably didn't want to have headlines come from their media day.

They probably didn't want that at all.

So...

Nothing massive stood out to me.

I didn't think there were any bombshells.

Obviously, you know, being around the beat, being in this industry for a decent amount of time, you pick up on little stuff that I'm sure we'll get into.

But again, there were no bombshells.

There were no front of ESPN headlines, which I think is a good thing for the Thunder who have essentially kind of turned the page.

We're past the San Antonio series.

We're heading into a new season.

And I think that's a good thing.

Yeah, not not always great for what we're trying to do in terms of drum up conversations, but for a fan.

And then if you're a team, having a lack of questions about your team is an awesome place to be in.

I mean, really, the only questions are about health and then some of the rookies that we're going to get into later.

Main takeaways.

Everyone loves Jared McCain.

That's what I came away with.

Everybody loves Jared McCain.