Oklahoma City needs its young star to exceed expectations. 

The Oklahoma City Thunder are in a tough spot early in the year, as the team has already suffered major injuries. Cason Wallace and Jalen Williams would both be lucky to come back at any point this season, and OKC has already had other small injuries with Alex Caruso and Chet Holmgren. 

While the Thunder have still had a good start to the year, as they are 4-1, this problem is still sounding warning bells for the Thunder’s season as a whole. Last season, OKC couldn’t get past the Western Conference Finals, and a big reason was the injuries the team had. OKC doesn’t want that exact same scenario to happen once again, and will need all the help it can get. 

This help will have to come in the form of Ajay Mitchell. Mitchell was already expected to make a leap this year and be a key rotational player for the Thunder, but with the way the year has already gone, Mitchell will likely have to blossom into a full-fledged star for the Thunder to compete. 

So far, Mitchell is starting to live up to this hype, as his past two games have been special. Monday night against Phoenix, the young guard put up a career-high 30 points on an impressive 62.5% shooting night. Mitchell then doubled down on his stellar play the game after, dropping 29 points on Wednesday night against the Mavericks. 

These past two games have given the Thunder hope that a new superstar could be on the rise to save the team from the injury bug, but Mitchell will have to make sure that this is the new normal. If the young guard can keep this level of play up, he could see himself reach new heights as a player, and he could see OKC getting back to the top of the mountain come June. 

Of course, Mitchell will have help around him, as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander will still be leading the team, along with Chet Holmgren when he returns. While Mitchell won’t be expected to lead the team all on his own, he now has to step into the same level of production that was expected of Williams. 

Mitchell’s season outlook for his role might have changed, but the young star has now become a necessity for the Thunder to succeed, and this season has just been laid upon his shoulders.