Overview:
Ajay Mitchell was averaging 15.1 points per game in the playoffs for the Oklahoma City Thunder when a calf injury knocked him out of the NBA Western Conference Finals
Ajay Mitchell turned 24 last Thursday — a tender age for an NBA basketball player —but he’s already learned about the agony and ecstasy of his profession.
The former UC Santa Barbara point guard, now a rapidly emerging star of the Oklahoma City Thunder, has experienced both aplenty.
“If I could tell a younger version of myself, ‘Hey, in your first year you’re going to win an NBA championship, and then your second year you’re going to be really impactful for one of the best teams in the NBA,’ I don’t know if I would be like, ‘Yeah,’” he admitted.
“So it’s definitely been an amazing ride so far.
“But I just look at it as there’s so much more I can be better at, and so much more to build on.”
That ride, after all, has also shortchanged him with numerous bumps and bruises since his junior year as a Gaucho.
His attacking style as a rim-running guard has led to injuries to his toes, ankles, calves, hips, abdomen and even a Christmas Eve concussion last season.
It’s why he made a point of telling a gaggle of youngsters at last week’s UCSB Basketball Camp to just make sure to “have fun” when they play the game.
Mitchell, recruited off the courts of his native Belgium, has felt the agony of basketball every season since his final one at UCSB in 2023-2024.
“It wasn’t even documented, but we had a scrimmage before that year even started where he fractured his foot,” Gaucho coach Joe Pasternack told Noozhawk. “It kept him out of the first few games.
“And then he sprained one ankle, and then the other ankle, and he couldn’t even practice with our team the whole year.
“He was just doing walkthroughs and playing in the games.”
Mitchell still netted 20.0 points per game that season — the eighth-best scoring average in school history — with shooting percentages of .504 overall, .393 from three-point distance and .858 from the free-throw line. He also averaged 4.0 assists.
But UCSB’s win-loss record plummeted from its 27-8, Big West Conference championship season of 2022-2023 to just 16-15 during his junior year.
That undoubtedly dropped Mitchell, the Big West MVP as a sophomore, into the second round of the 2024 NBA draft.
“There was part of me that truly believed I was a first-round pick,” he said. “But there was another part of me that was like, ‘Don’t forget where you come from.’
“For me to even play in the NBA and get drafted was like a dream as a little kid.
“Being able to do it, I will never take it for granted.”
Toe Jam
Mitchell has kept that as his mantra through his first two years in professional basketball.
His rookie season as a top reserve guard for the NBA champion Thunder went from the thrill of victory to the agony of the feet.
He tore a ligament in the big toe of his right foot — an injury better known as “turf toe” — which required surgery midway through the season.
It cost Mitchell 46 regular-season games plus a good chance of making the NBA’s All-Rookie Team.
“When I got hurt, I was definitely upset at first,” Mitchell said. “That was a tough moment.
“But it was a good opportunity for me to learn the game from the sideline. I also had the ability to work on my body, too.”
He returned just in time for the playoffs — but too late to shake off enough rust to reclaim his spot in OKC’s player rotation.
Mitchell played just 19 minutes during the entire seven-game NBA Finals against the Indiana Pacers. All but seven of those minutes came in the Thunder’s 17-point loss in Game 6.
He didn’t enter OKC’s 103-91, title-clinching victory in Game 7 until just 32.1 seconds remained.
It was nonetheless a “great feeling … great moment,” he said.
“Obviously, it was a dream as a kid,” Mitchell said of the 2025 NBA championship. “I was really happy for it to happen my first year.
“But I tried to turn the page.”
Mitchell’s main goal during the offseason was to become “a complete player” who could man both guard positions for the Thunder.
“I kind of worked on a little bit of everything,” he said. “The main thing was to get stronger and just work on every part of my game I could get better at.”
A New Year
By last New Year’s Eve, OKC coach Mark Daigneault was declaring it a mission accomplished.
Mitchell scored 17 points that day on perfect shooting — 4-for-4 from the field, which included a three-pointer and 8-of-8 free throws — to help beat the Portland Trail Blazers 124-95.
It improved the Thunder’s record to a league-best 29-5.
“He’s obviously a very talented player and a really impactful player, really efficient player,” Daigneault said afterward. “It’s hard to establish yourself and be on the gas on a team that’s really good — a team that’s pretty established that you’re coming into.
“And he’s found an unbelievable blend and has threaded a very nice needle of asserting himself, and really not flinching.”
Mitchell did that in a way that Daigneault said wasn’t “inappropriate with what the rest of the team is doing.”
“It’s really impressive,” he added, “and he competes on the other end, so, it makes it really easy to ride with him.”
That ride had been accelerating when Mitchell was selected to play in the NBA Rising Stars Game that kicks off the All-Star Weekend of Feb. 13-15.
But he never got there.
Mitchell had scored 18 points during the first half of a Jan. 21 game against the Milwaukee Bucks when he strained an abdominal muscle early in the second half. It sidelined him for nearly six weeks.
It silenced all talk of his winning the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year Award.
He didn’t miss a beat, however, when he returned to the lineup for a March 9 game against the Denver Nuggets.
He scored 24 points and assisted Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s game-winning three-pointer in a 129-126 victory.
“He’s probably the mentally toughest player I’ve ever coached,” Pasternack said. “Nothing fazes him. All he does is fight back.
“That would be the best way to describe Ajay, you know? He is going to fight back, whatever it is.”
Mitchell finished the season with averages of 13.6 points, 3.6 assist and 3.3 rebounds per game.
His shooting percentages were a healthy 48.5% overall, 34.7% from three and 87% from the foul line.
A New Start
He assumed an even more crucial role for OKC during the playoffs after NBA All-Star Jalen Williams pulled a hamstring muscle during Game 2 of the opening round series against the Phoenix Suns.
Mitchell scored 15 points while starting Game 3 and then capped the sweep by pouring in 22 points with six assists in Game 4.
“He’s ready for the moment,” Williams said. “Especially me being out, it’s like embrace that moment.
“The team wants you to shoot those shots. The team wants you to be aggressive.
“When you’re aggressive, especially him, you end up making the right play more times than not. And he made the right play every single time. He’s a hell of a player.”
Mitchell’s stock rose even higher during the Thunder’s four-game sweep of the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference semifinals.
He averaged 22.5 points and 6.0 assists in the series, capping it with a career-high 28 in the Game 4, 115-110 victory at L.A.’s Crypto.com Arena.
Gilgeous-Alexander, the reigning NBA MVP, anointed him as “our best player this series” during his post-game interview on Prime Video.
Basketball fans from his hometown of Ans, Belgium, to Oklahoma City to Santa Barbara all celebrated as if from the same neighborhood.
“The whole town was really excited,” Pasternack said. “Everybody was watching and saw how he just dominated.
“He was nice enough to come speak to the campers, and it was probably the highlight of their week.”
Mitchell told reporters after his talk with the youngsters that “This is kind of home for me.”
“I spent three years here — got welcomed just like I was part of the family — so it’s a special place,” he said.
He spends part of his summer working out at the Thunderdome and training with Luke Storey, the Gauchos’ senior associate athletic director for health, wellness and performance.
“An NBA player goes where they feel the most comfortable during the off season, and Ajay is family to us,” Pasternack said.
Storey, the former head strength and conditioning coach for the Orlando Magic, also spent more than five years at P3 Peak Performance Project.
The Santa Barbara sports performance facility utilizes advanced science technologies to assess and train professional athletes from the NBA, NFL, NHL to Major League Baseball.
P3 was where the 6-foot-4 Mitchell worked religiously to turn his slight, freshman build of 170 pounds into a pillar of well-toned, 200-pound strength.
Spurs in the Saddle
And yet, the injury bug struck once again — and torpedoed OKC’s quest for back-to-back NBA championships — during last month’s Western Conference Finals against the San Antonio Spurs.
Mitchell strained the calf muscle of his right leg during Game 2 and left Game 3 after reaggravating the injury.
He missed the remainder of the series, which the Thunder lost in seven games.
“It was tough — obviously physically, but also mentally,” he said. “But it’s part of the game.
“We went through injuries but gave it our best shot … so there’s no regrets on that end.”
The injury has also rendered Mitchell unable to play for Belgium in next month’s European Qualifiers for the 2027 FIBA World Cup.
“Wearing the Belgian jersey means a great deal to me,” he said. “Belgium is my home country — it’s where I grew up, where I discovered basketball, and where it all began.
“I’ll be supporting the team from afar.”
That place from afar is Santa Barbara, but it’s no beach vacation.
“It’s been a lot of work, just getting back to being 100%, doing rehab, and getting stronger and getting my calf ready,” Mitchell said. “I don’t really have any other things to do right now but just get healthy.
“I’ve gone through injuries before … It’s just keeping the same mindset, doing everything I can to be back on the court as soon as possible.
“Just being smart and doing the right things.”
It helps, he added, that he’s not doing it alone.
“It’s everybody in my circle, from family and friends, and everyone that’s been keeping me humble in every situation,” Mitchell said. “And then I think it’s just my faith.
“I think God — being able to rely on Him — and never getting too high, never getting too low, and staying in the moment are really what’s helped me the most.”
Plenty of moments yet await when you’re 24.
MORE MARK PATTON
