OKC Thunder 3 goals: Cason Wallace could grow as outside shooter

A summer filled with celebration nears its end. Only a month remains until the Oklahoma City Thunder start the 2025-26 regular season. The NBA champion has enjoyed its accomplishments, but soon a new marathon will start with them at the top.

Bringing back mostly the same roster, the Thunder are the consensus title favorite. They're viewed as a team that could pull off the rare feat of being a back-to-back champion. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren all signed contract extensions this offseason to keep their title window wide open.

To prepare for the 2025-26 regular season, Thunder Wire will lay out three goals for all 17 players on the roster. OKC has 15 standard players and two two-way players. Let's look at Cason Wallace and what he could accomplish this upcoming year:

Bump up outside shot

The third season is when NBA players usually make their largest leap. If you're Wallace, you hope that materializes with a better outside shooting season. He experienced some regression to the mean in his sophomore campaign. He shot 41.9% from 3 on 2.9 attempts in his first season to 35.6% from 3 on 3.1 attempts in his second season. Those few percentage points could be the difference in the scouting report between teams giving up open looks and teams closing out on him.

It doesn't even necessarily have to be a better shooting percentage, either. Wallace reads like a player who could take on more on his plate with his catch-and-shoot looks. The Thunder asked Jalen Williams and Aaron Wiggins to do the same last season and the strategy paid off. He could be next as he's one of the better natural outside shooters in OKC.

Take next step as playmaker

One of the biggest talking points in last year's training camp was the potential leap Wallace could take as a playmaker. He talked at length about how he spent his first NBA offseason working as a primary ball-handler. But sometimes what you envision in June doesn't materialize in the season. He averaged 2.5 assists, but he wasn't really running the half-court offense.

Maybe this is the season Wallace can finally take on that role. He's shown flashes, especially in transition. Expect an open competition for the backup point guard role. That was the one roster weakness the Thunder had last season that they never addressed. While Nikola Topic and Ajay Mitchell are other candidates, Wallace has the advantage of getting guaranteed rotation minutes nonetheless.

Sign contract extension

The Thunder will run it back with mostly the same roster this upcoming season, but could see some shakeups next offseason. They have a group of role players who will be due contract extensions soon. One is Wallace. He will be eligible for a new deal after his third season. There's no question he'll get a massive payday. The 21-year-old has already proven to be a high-end role player who has All-Defense Team accolades written all over him.

The question is if it's with the Thunder. Considering Lu Dort and Isaiah Hartenstein are also due new deals soon, Wallace has the highest trade value among the three. They could easily flip him for draft assets and win-now players. That said, you'd rather hope for the alternative reality where they could lock him down to a new contract. He has the highest ceiling left among the OKC role players. You want him to reach that on the Thunder.

This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: OKC Thunder 3 goals: Cason Wallace could grow as outside shooter