2025 Summer League: 5 OKC Thunder storylines to watch for

Usually at home with burgers and hot dogs in hand, the Oklahoma City Thunder won't have much time to celebrate the 4th of July holiday. Instead, they'll fly out west to start the two-week extravaganza known as 2025 Summer League.

The NBA champion released its Summer League roster on Friday. The Thunder will play at least eight games from July 5-20. They will play the first three games at Salt Lake City and the rest at the traditional Las Vegas spot.

Thunder fans continue to get spoiled. Less than a month after they captured the Larry O'Brien trophy, they'll have some notable prospects to get excited and watch for at the summer event headlined by first-year and second-year players.

Here are five 2025 Summer League storylines to watch out for:

How Nikola Topic looks

All eyes will be on Topic. The 2024 No. 12 pick will finally get a chance to suit up for the Thunder. He missed his first season recovering from a partially torn ACL he suffered in May 2024. Now, over a year later, he gets to play in a game for OKC.

Before the knee injury, Topic was viewed as a blue-chip prospect with plenty of upside. The 19-year-old had the best playmaking abilities. His drives to the basket and free-throw numbers indicated he could turn into a decent shooter. He added 15 pounds to his frame from 201 in training camp to 216 now.

Usually, NBA champions don't have a lottery prospect to look forward to. But the Thunder remain the exception to the rule. Thanks to the Houston Rockets, they were gifted a lottery pick in last year's draft. It'll be fun to see how Topic holds up against semi-NBA competition.

If Topic can command the offense and be a downhill driver, Thunder fans' curiosity will turn to excitement. One of the biggest roster weaknesses of the NBA champion was a lack of a backup guard. He can fix that by himself and help Jalen Williams run the second unit.

How Ajay Mitchell looks

The other headliner on the Thunder's 2025 Summer League roster. Mitchell caught everybody by surprise with his early contributions before a toe injury sidelined him for three months. And really, the entirety of the playoffs. Still, he showed enough in his 36 games to warrant a job promotion from two-way player to a standard multi-year deal he just signed.

Mitchell enters the Summer League with the most experience on the Thunder's roster. He was sparingly relied upon throughout the playoffs in spot minutes and was given some real run in OKC's NBA Finals Game 1 loss. If the 23-year-old can translate what he did in his rookie campaign to this environment, that'll be a nice surprise.

The Thunder's backup point guard spot is up for grabs. Mitchell and Topic will likely battle it out in training camp and preseason to see who gets the minutes. But the Summer League is where those two players will truly get their first chance to leave an impression.

The two-way candidates

Considering the Thunder's roster situation, it's pretty easy to guess who their three two-way players will be. Brooks Barnhizer officially occupies one spot as the 2025 No. 44 pick. Branden Carlson has a two-way qualifying offer at the table waiting for him to sign, barring an NBA team signing him to a standard deal.

And considering Alex Ducas was at the rookie press conference and on the Summer League roster, he's likely the third two-way player. Injuries hampered him last year. But he's shed some weight and looks ready to go for his first true Summer League.

Let's see how Barnhizer looks against NBA competition. He carved out a reputation at Northwestern as an all-hustle guy with a shaky jumper. The 23-year-old will need to impress right away, since his runway is shorter than fellow rookie Thomas Sorber.

Meanwhile, Carlson just needs to continue to build off his strong rookie campaign. He showed flashes as a seven-footer spacer. He dominated the G League competition. The Thunder tendered him, knowing he'd likely have a two-way market at other places. Ducas should show some flashes, too. He had a forgettable first year, but could be an outside shooter.

When do players start to sit out

Because the Thunder play in Utah's Summer League, this is always one of the biggest questions. They historically play their big-name players in the much more controlled environment of Salt Lake City rather than the pseudo-party city of Las Vegas.

Topic and Mitchell are prime candidates to be shut down after Utah. Topic, because you don't want to overwhelm him in his first games played in over a year. Mitchell, because he simply might be too good to play the rest of a watered-down Summer League.

Once those two get shut down, the interesting level for the rest of the Summer League might plummet. But the Thunder have the rest of the roster to look at. OKC's undrafted pool could have guys added to its G League's OKC Blue.

The rest of the roster standouts

Which segues to the next point. There are 19 players listed on the Thunder's Summer League. That means Topic, Mitchell and the presumed two-way players leave 14 other players who haven't been mentioned yet.

Besides Malevy Leons and Jazian Gortman, the other 12 players were undrafted free agents. You always have plenty of interesting names and stories involved in that group. There's a decent chance that some of those players carve out NBA or G League careers.

While the last handful of Summer League games see their viewership numbers severally dropped, there's always basketball sickos out there interested to see how some of these undrafted rookies look like in expanded roles.

This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: 2025 Summer League: 5 OKC Thunder storylines to watch for