As the NBA world continues to speculate Oklahoma City Thunder's next trade after losing star Jalen Williams and Cason Wallace to their respecitve injuries, did ESPN's Brian Windhorst tease a potential move for Memphis Grizzlies guard Ty Jerome? In his first game since Williams and Wallace's injuries against the LA Clippers, Ajay Mitchell scored a career-high 30 points in a 125-114 win against the Phoenix Suns. He's off to an ideal start as Oklahoma City's new starting guard alongside All-Star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.

However, many analysts believe the Thunder will make a move to satisfy their long-term concerns after losing Williams to a season-ending injury, and Wallace, who's expected to miss most of the regular season, as Windhorst alluded to, per ESPN's The Hoop Collective podcast.

“This is one thing that I've talked to executives about, and I don't mean to be cryptic, but I'm being cryptic,” Windhorst said. “If you're going to acquire a player, it would not be a surprise if they acquire a player they've already had.”

Ty Jerome, who's off to a scorching start to the 2026-27 campaign, played two seasons for the Thunder. He averaged 10.7 points, 3.6 assists, and 2.8 rebounds in 33 games in 2020-21, when he spent most of the season in the G League. Jerome was traded by the Suns as part of the Thunder's blockbuster Chris Paul trade.

This season, he's averaging 29.8 points on 50.6/37.0/87.9 shooting splits, 6.3 assists, and 3.5 rebounds in his first four games with the Grizzlies. However, the Thunder could continue to look in-house to fill in the voids left in Williams and Wallace's absences, as ESPN's Bobby Marks stated.

“They're looking ahead. They're not looking back at what decisions they've made,” Marks said. “They got one roster spot open right now. Just because you have two players that get injured doesn't automatically open up two roster spots for you. So, you have one roster spot open. I think they're going to rely on their two-way players. They signed Micah Peavy, who was in New Orleans and then, Memphis. Although they have injuries, everybody's in this evaluation period right now.”

Thunder guard Ajay Mitchell averaged 14.9 points, 3.8 assists, 3.6 rebounds, and 1.3 steals in 16 starts last season. Oklahoma City is 24-1 in games in which Mitchell starts. Still, with Williams' injury, the Thunder can apply for the NBA's Disabled Player Exception, which would create enough cap space to make a trade for Jerome, as NBA insider Marc Stein noted, per The Stein Line.

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“Williams' case that will be worth $15 million … equal to the league's full midlevel exception. The Thunder also have three sizable trade exceptions available that were generated in recent deals worth $17.8 million, $11.3 million and $9.2 million…Presti, remember, already had to trade away Lu Dort, Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins in the offseason because of Oklahoma City's fast-rising payroll. Don't forget, though, that he has stockpiled seven tradeable first-round picks and 21 second-rounders to sweeten future trade offers,” Stein wrote.

He then openly speculated about whether Jerome would be a good fit for the Thunder, “Consider this item observational rather than reporting: The aforementioned Jerome obviously isn't a wing with size like Williams, but his versatility and productivity (and contract) do make you wonder if he's the sort of player Oklahoma City might eventually contemplate pursuing. Especially since the Thunder have already had Jerome, who turned 29 in July, in their program.”

Ty Jerome is in the final season of his three-year, $27.6 million contract, worth $9.6 million for the 2026-27 season.