Two 2026 NBA Mock Drafts Pair Michigan’s Aday Mara with OKC Thunder

The Oklahoma City Thunder’s season came to an end just short of reaching the NBA Finals.

After another strong campaign, OKC battled the San Antonio Spurs, but fell in a seven-game series, missing two key players for most of the matchup.

Even with Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell, though, the Thunder’s primary issue against San Antonio was defending superstar Victor Wembanyama. Oklahoma City managed to slow down the 22-year-old in a few matchups, but it ultimately wasn’t enough to win the series.

Mark Daigneault’s team will now head into the offseason with a few opportunites to find answers to this problem, however. In addition to Williams and Mitchell returning to full health, which will be key for OKC, Thomas Sorber, the Thunder’s first-round pick in 2025, should be healthy after missing his entire rookie season with a torn ACL.

Oklahoma City also has two picks in the first round of the 2026 NBA Draft, and could add more young pieces to the roster.

A pair of recent mock drafts slotted Michigan big man Aday Mara to OKC, who could be an interesting option to try and combat Wembanyama’s size and length. Mara measured at 7-foot-3 without shoes at the NBA Combine, recording a 7-foot-6 wingspan, 9-foot-9 standing reach and weighing 259 pounds.

Given Wembanyama’s abilities, it seems unlikely that any rookie can fully counteract the MVP Finalist and Defensive Player of the Year, but Mara’s size would give OKC another matchup to try against the Spurs’ standout.

After two seasons at UCLA, Mara had a breakout season with Michigan, averaging 12.1 points, 6.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 2.6 blocks per game while shooting 66.8% from the field. Mara earned Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and All-Big Ten recognition for his efforts, helping the Wolverines with a national championship in his lone campaign with the team.

Bryan Kalbrosky of USA Today slotted Mara to OKC with the No. 12 overall pick in this summer’s draft, while Cameron Salerno of CBS Sports projected the Thunder to trade the No. 12 and No. 17 selections for the No. 9 overall pick to draft Mara.

Kalbrosky also paired Tennessee’s Nate Ament with Oklahoma City at No. 17 overall. Ament recently said in an interview with Kevin O’Connor that he completed a predraft workout with the Thunder.

Ament measured 6-foot-9-and-a-half without shoes and notched a 6-foot-11-and-a-half wingspan, weighing 210 and recording a standing reach of 9-foot-1-and-a-half at the NBA Combine.

As a freshman at Tennessee, the former five-star recuit averaged 16.7 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and a steal per game while shooting 39.9% from the field and 33.3% from 3-point range.