theathleticuk
LAS VEGAS With a little more than seven minutes remaining in the third quarter, Oklahoma City Thunder lottery rookie center Aday Mara had just rebounded his own miss and thought he had an easy assist to forward Brooks Barnhizer under the rim.
Mara fired off a pass from the post intended for Barnhizer, but unbeknownst to Mara, Los Angeles Lakers power forward Adou Thiero was still in the paint.
Advertisement Thiero alertly lifted his hands, collected a steal and the Lakers cashed in on points off the turnover with a made 3-pointer by center Anton Watson on the ensuing possession.
On the next Lakers possession, Thiero had the ball with Mara guarding him in the corner as the shot clock was expiring.
Thiero angled himself into the paint with a drive after a side screen from point guard William Hickey, drawing a switch from Thunder forward Buddy Boeheim while Mara instinctively sunk into the paint.
Thiero spun back toward the rim to lose Boeheim, and as he felt Mara under the basket, Thiero whipped a pass to Hickey in the corner for an open 3-pointer that forced a Thunder timeout.
I was just trying to go out there and cause havoc, said Thiero, who was the 36th pick of the 2025 NBA Draft.
JJ, he says the things he wants: be the point of attack, on-ball defender and everything.
So just trying to go out there and be that, try and get the reps and defending.
And offensively, just trying to play basketball.
Trying to make the game more simple for myself.
Thiero was impactful across the board, finishing with a game-high 20 points on 8-of-14 field goals while adding four assists, three steals and two blocks in a game-high 30:08 as the Lakers comfortably beat the Thunder 96-84 in what was both teams opening game in Las Vegas.
When Thiero was off the floor for 9:52, the Lakers were outscored by one point; the Lakers outscored the Thunder when any other player was on the bench.
Notably, Thiero had no turnovers while adding an offensive rebound.
Thiero didnt just make plays; he played in a way that the Lakers managed to win the possession battle despite being outrebounded.
The Lakers had 13 turnovers to the Thunders 20.
If Thiero can consistently get offensive rebounds and steals while limiting turnovers, he could earn minutes for head coach JJ Redick, who trusted Thiero enough to place him in the rotation toward the end of the Thunders sweep of the Lakers in the Western Conference semifinals.
Advertisement A measurement of the possession battle is the combined margin of offensive rebounds and opponent turnovers.
The Lakers forced 10 more turnovers than their opponents last season, but gave up 119 more offensive rebounds than they totaled.
That negative 109-possession differential (-1.3 per game) ranked 23rd in the NBA.
Among playoff teams, only the Denver Nuggets (-2.6 possession differential per game) ranked worse at 26th in the league.
The champion New York Knicks ranked second in the NBA in possession battle differential at 3.4 per game, second only to a 60-win Detroit Pistons team (3.6 per game) that swept the Knicks 3-0 during the regular season.
Team | Possession battle | |---|---| 3.6 | | 3.4 | | 3 | | 2.4 | | 1.9 | | 1.8 | | 1.7 | | 1.7 | | 1.6 | | 1.5 | | 1.5 | | 1.2 | | 0.5 | | 0.5 | | 0.1 | | 0 | | -0.1 | | -0.2 | | -0.5 | | -0.8 | | -1.1 | | -1.1 | | -1.3 | | -2 | | -2.4 | | -2.6 | | -2.6 | | -3.3 | | -4 | | -4.3 | The Lakers struggled the most on the offensive glass last season, ranking 24th in offensive rebound percentage.
That should improve with the addition of starting center Walker Kessler and backup center Kevon Looney.
Kessler has averaged 3.4 offensive rebounds per game in his career, including a league-high 4.6 per game in 2024-25, while Looney averaged 2.3 offensive rebounds per game last season despite playing a six-year low 14.7 minutes per game.
Departing starting center Deandre Ayton averaged 2.6 offensive rebounds per game last season, two fewer than Kessler, while departing backup center Jaxson Hayes averaged 1.5 offensive rebounds per game despite playing more than three minutes per game more than Looney last season.
No other Laker averaged more than 1.4 offensive rebounds per game.
For our summer league team, generally we want to limit turnovers, we want to crash for extra possessions, we want to get stops, said Lakers summer league head coach Ty Abbott, who focuses on player development on Redicks staff.
But to the best of our ability, if we can crash and use our energy, now we have athletes on our wings.
So the shot goes up, and we can crash and get an extra possession were always looking for.
Thiero certainly comes to mind when discussing athleticism to win the possession battle.
He says he still hasnt had his vertical leap measured yet his knee surgery prohibited him from participating in the 2025 NBA Combine but Thiero estimates it exceeds 40 inches.
Advertisement Thats a heck of a question, said Lakers first-round rookie Cameron Carr, owner of a verified 42.5-inch vertical leap at the combine, when asked who had the higher vertical leap between himself and Thiero.
Im going to give it to Adou.
Thiero showed off that vertical when he stripped rookie point guard Bennett Stirtz from behind and got the ball back for a fast-break windmill, one of five Thiero dunks.
Thiero made all but one of his field-goal attempts inside the 3-point line against the Thunder.
He just wasnt rushed tonight, Abbott said of Thiero.
He took what was in front of him.
He attacked matchups.
He understood that there was gonna be some paint swarming; those guys were gonna try and flood and meet him at the rim.
And he made the right pass.
And when he started doing that, it started to open up for him, and he was able to finish at the rim.
Thiero still has barriers to his playing time at forward that have nothing to do with the depth chart.
He must prove his availability, a constant concern given his history and play style.
Thiero missed the end of his final season at Arkansas because of knee surgery that also kept him out of last years summer league and the preseason.
He was unable to play Monday against the San Antonio Spurs due to a right wrist injury.
Thieros other issue is his shooting.
He made only one 3-pointer in his 149 minutes as a rookie.
That hasnt improved yet in summer league play, as Thiero has missed eight of his 3-point attempts, including five attempts Friday.
If anything, Thieros struggles to shoot make it more imperative that he focuses his impact on the possession battle to help his team win while he is on the floor.
That means getting steals, getting rebounds and making plays without turning the ball over.
Friday night was a strong example of putting that ideal to work.
Hes fitting in well, Carr said of Thiero.
Hes starting to find his pace where he can fit in and be dominant in his own way.
Man, weve been talking a lot.
Just finding our opportunity to attack, go downhill, so Im proud of him.
Hes been doing a heck of a job.
He works so hard, plays so hard.
Basketball gods gotta reward that, right?.