Ajay Mitchell almost makes you forget about Jalen Williams' injury on Thunder playoff run

Ajay Mitchell knew he could beat Austin Reaves to the basket. The Thunder super sophomore had made the former Sooner look silly all night. It was just a matter of which move, in a bag full of them, to bust out this time.

Mitchell danced with Reaves on the perimeter before dusting Reaves with a hard crossover. Mitchell, with Reaves trailing from behind, pulled up for a midrange jumper that rattled in despite Mitchell double-clutching midair. The ABC broadcast immediately panned to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who was standing at the scorer’s table — eyes wide and mouth agape.

The MVP, like the rest of us, was mesmerized by Mitchell’s magic in the Thunder’s 131-108 Game 3 rout of the Lakers on Saturday night . “It might be a shock to the world, but it’s no shock to us,” SGA said of Mitchell in a postgame interview with sideline reporter Jorge Sedano. “We knew who Ajay Mitchell was the day he stepped into our building, and he’s just showing it to the world.

” More: OKC Thunder get big games from guards, bigs in another Laker rout Mitchell, the Thunder’s lowest-paid player, scored a team-high 24 points in Game 3. He had 10 assists and zero turnovers. That’s one more point, one more assist and two fewer turnovers than SGA had.