The calendar has flipped to August. Which means we're in the dog days of the NBA's year-round calendar. Little will happen over the next two months as teams across the league prepare for the 2026-27 season. Before we move on, though, let's reflect one last time on last year.
The Oklahoma City Thunder had a league-best 64-18 regular-season record. Juggling injuries all year, they overcame notable absences all year. Alas, they fell short of a second NBA championship with a 2026 Western Conference Finals exit.
To reflect on their 2025-26 season, Thunder Wire will conduct player grades for all 20 players who suited up for them this past year. Fifteenth up is Brooks Barnhizer, who returns on a two-way deal:
Convert to standard deal
This is the top goal for any two-way player. The Thunder currently have an open standard roster spot. Barnhizer will try to fill that vacancy. He's the sole returning player from last year's two-way group. That means OKC must like him enough to think he has a chance to become an NBA player.
Let's see if Barnhizer forces the issue. Two-way players are allowed to be active for 50 regular-season games. They must be converted to a standard deal to be playoff-eligible. The Thunder have a recent history of converting players they like to meet that threshold. But to be honest, he has quite the uphill battle to join that list.
Dominate in G League
This is where Barnhizer will log most of his playing time. The entire point of a two-way deal is to make it seamless with how an NBA player goes up and down with the big club. That's even easier in OKC. As the Thunder and OKC Blue share the same playbook and home gym. Let's see if he can dominate this level of competition. He did so last year as one of their top ball-handlers.
Barnhizer averaged 18.2 points, 8.8 rebounds and 4.3 assists in 21 G League games last season. Even though the Blue were one of the worst teams last year, he still stuffed the stat sheet. He played a bully-ball style to get his numbers. But I just don't know how much of that is translatable to the NBA level. Truly, he must figure out this one swing skill to beat the odds and carve out an NBA career.
Work on outside jumper
This is going to make or break Barnhizer's NBA ambitions. He must sharpen his outside jumper. He shot an ugly 29.2% from 3 on 0.9 attempts last season. That's just not going to cut it. If he's going to make it as a role player, he has to be comfortable with most of his shot attempts happening in the catch-and-shoot variety. I know that's a big ask for somebody who's never really been a great outside shooter, but it's what he needs to figure out.
We'll see if results are better this year. Barnhizer is basically starting from scratch as an outside shooter. It's pretty obvious with the hitch in his jumper. Also doesn't help that the opposing team usually dares him to shoot the ball. He has to show more results this year. Straight up. You only get so much runway in the NBA. Especially as a second-round two-way player.
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: OKC Thunder 3 goals: Brooks Barnhizer has shot to get standard NBA deal