Brooks Barnhizer hoping to discover NBA 'superpowers' at Summer League

Catching Aday Mara's outlet pass to spark up a fast-break situation, Brooks Barnhizer missed on his initial layup. He quickly redeemed himself, though. He grabbed his own miss and went up for a second-chance look that turned into an and-one opportunity.

The Oklahoma City Thunder opened their 2026 Summer League with an 111-74 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies. That said, the results of these games don't matter. More importantly, how their top guys look is the whole point of the July event.

Barnhizer finished with 13 points on 6-of-12 shooting, six rebounds and one assist. He shot 1-of-4 from 3 and went 0-of-1 on free throws.

The only returning player from last year's two-way group, Barnhizer showed he's been around the block. The Thunder welcomed his scoring aggressiveness. He'd bulldoze his way to the rim — even if his drives weren't exactly aesthetically pleasing, per se. He had 11 points in the first half as the rest of OKC struggled to show up in the scoring column.

Well, Barnhizer looked a lot more confident in his second Summer League. Love to see that. The mental side is always half the battle. He was willing to empty the tank while the rest of OKC's top players took a minute to get comfortable in their sneakers. That said, the shooting is still a problem. And there were times when his motor betrayed him as the game went by a little too fast for him.

Let's see how the rest of Summer League looks for Barnhizer. The Thunder obviously like his game enough to bring him back a second year. The 24-year-old will have the next two weeks to show the fanbase how he's improved a year after having full access to the NBA.

"I think my numbers shooting the ball in our facility were crazy this year. I'm just trying to really hammer that out. Obviously, if you want to play in the NBA, you have to be able to shoot," Barnhizer said. "But also just defensively, I'm trying to be able to scale up and down. Being able to switch a lot, stuff like that. I feel like I came in and had a really good defensive performance last year in Summer League. Now, it's about kinda knowing what my superpowers are as a player."

This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Brooks Barnhizer hoping to discover NBA 'superpowers' at Summer League