Johnny Furphy has enjoyed a few highlight plays during his time with the Indiana Pacers, but Ajay Mitchell looks to be blossoming into an absolute star for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Indiana drafted him with the No. 35 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft. Five selections into the second round. But three spots later, the Thunder took Mitchell.
Obviously, drafting that late is a mess. It’s nearly impossible to find impact players, and the teams that do are raved about for their ability to scout talent. Furphy is a fine player. He’s shown flashes of solid play. But right now, Mitchell is the third-leading scorer on a Thunder team that has started the year 13-1.
He’s been great.
Pacers took Johnny Furphy over Ajay Mitchell
Nobody could have ever predicted that Tyrese Haliburton was going to rupture his Achilles, especially not in the manner he did: Game 7 of the NBA Finals (against the Thunder, no less).
His absence has sent the Pacers into chaos. They are 1-12 this season, almost the exact opposite of the record the Thunder have jumped out to. One player wouldn’t have solved that issue, but having Mitchell on the roster would certainly help Indiana.
Furphy has been dealing with an ankle injury this season, so he’s only appeared in three games. But still, through the first two years of his career, Furphy has only played 7.8 minutes per contest.
As for Mitchell, his play for OKC this year has been one of the biggest stories of the NBA season. He’s taking the second-most shots per game behind only Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, the reigning MVP.
So far this season, Mitchell has appeared in all 14 games for the Thunder, playing 28.3 minutes and earning five starts. He’s averaging 16.7 points, 4.0 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 1.8 steals while shooting 45.7% from the floor and 34.0% from deep on 3.8 three-point attempts per contest.
Needless to say, Mitchell has vastly outperformed Furphy throughout the course of their respective careers. Jalen Williams’ absence has certainly helped streamline Mitchell’s emergence, but still, Furphy should have had plenty of opportunities to shine, too.
Should the Pacers have taken Mitchell over Furphy, maybe he would have been able to help them traverse the current Haliburton-less waters that they have found themselves in.
Hindsight is obviously 20/20, but in this case, said hindsight makes a clear point: Indiana should have taken Mitchell over Furphy.