This is going EXACTLY how Sam Presti Planned...

Now, this is exactly what Sam Presti was banking on and way to play Cason Wallace. OKC's other guard from the University of Kentucky, the 22-year-old, has already carved out a reputation around the NBA as a top-tier perimeter defender. Last season's steals leader and all defensive selection, it is always clamps when Cason comes around. But last night against Denver, well, he also dialed it in from deep. Pairing a trio of triples with his usual elite defense in OKC, they got their second win of the season against the Denver Nuggets. Ryan jumped on the postgame directly after that. Hopefully you guys caught that. And if you're not, well, that just tells me that you need to subscribe to Thunder Digest, home of the best Thunder content and community on all of social media. And we have set a goal to hit 11,000 subscribers by Thanksgiving. We're thankful for all of you that subscribe. We hope that you help us hit that goal. and after a message from our sponsor we're going to get into Cason and Wallace doing what he does best last night and then adding a little bit more on top of that today's video is brought to you by Kalshi now on Kalshi you are trading directly against other users not against the house like other traditional sports books you're buying yes or no contracts on the outcome of events across sports politics or even the weather for example we are an okc thunder basketball channel we stick to what we know and Cason is the topic of today's video so i had to grab a prop near and dear to the boy which is the nba steals per game leader a title which Cason is defending this season he took the crown last year but he does not boast the best odds to win currently at 16% he is trailing Dyson Daniels who has a 20% chance to take home the title and to me that is enough incentive to go ahead and put 25 on Kason to grab this steals crown for the second year in a row if it hits it pays out 138 dollars and 98 cents a pretty good deal but an even better deal is that if you are interested in trying out Kalshi you can use the link in the description in the pinned comment in code digest nba to get 55 added to your account when you play 25 all you need is code digest nba just like you see right here on your screen click that link down below in the description try out Kalshi today and go back Kason to win that steals crown before we get into this video covering Kason let's get into it right now it's time to get into it baby let's do it today we are talking Kason Wallace and how he delivered two-way impact against the Denver Nuggets last night Thunder they grabbed their second win on the season in just as many games played the home opener was last night and they come out successful a big part of that due to Kason Wallace who not only conducted his normal defensive duties as the premier perimeter defender on the Oklahoma City Thunder he also added some whipped cream to the sunday hitting a trio three different three pointers in this contest some offensive production from the guy as well and not only did Kason Wallace get to work last night well he got to work right from the opening tip we're talking about a guy who is now going to be a fundamental piece of this OKC starting lineup he went out there alongside Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, J-Dub, Chet, and Cason for the opening lineup for the Thunder and while Cason did start over 50 games last season I believe it was 58 games he started he wasn't in their ideal starting lineup their death lineup that included Lu Dort well this here is a whole different story that spot goes to Cason and Wallace whenever he is healthy and available and last night he was both of those things and not only those two things he was a third thing that being very productive in his 24 minutes on the court Cason Wallace puts up nine points on three of eight shooting and puts up four steals on the defensive end takes care of the ball zero turnovers adds an assist a rebound and has a plus eight rating on the night in the Thunders 96 to 84 win very defensive oriented game and Cason Wallace I mean that's his forte he was able to grab four steals get the Thunder out into the open court and push them some buckets in that regard but not only was he you know indirectly getting buckets the way that we sometimes you know are accustomed to seeing Cason and Wallace go to work we saw him directly get his hands dirty and get some buckets on his own three three pointers from the outside in six attempts we see one of those coming from the right corner and the other two from that left wing and then he missed uh his pair of attempts that were right at the rim uh he definitely smoked one layup pretty badly but what we're seeing from Cason and Wallace you know the confidence shooting the basketball his ability to get to the rim this looks like a pretty similar shot chart to Alex Caruso which i just made a video on yesterday talking about his impact and how his off ball ability as an offensive player is very valuable to the Oklahoma City Thunder if Cason and Wallace can replicate that well it's going to you know yield him similar minutes and results with Alex Caruso one of the most uh efficient players in the plus minus department for the Thunder and yielding winning minutes for the Thunder but my question to you is what is the most important skill for Cason and to perfect next i want to know down in the comments if you think it's his three-point shooting for him to get this down pat for us to expect him to perform from three every night the same way that he did tonight is it going to be his ball handling we see him with the ball in his hands especially in the Spurs game they were trying to get SGA off ball to conserve energy uh and they had Cason in bringing the ball up does he need to improve that aspect of his game or is it his playmaking a guy who last year had over a dozen games with five or more assists Cason Wallace has shown some real flashes in the playmaking department when he has the ball in his hands to open up offense for other players so i'm curious which of these aspects of Cason Wallace you guys want to see come along the quickest and to the highest ceiling and this is going to you know play into the Thunder and their starting lineup uh for the rest of the year how they're going to be able to run their offense but Cason and Wallace, I mean immediately right now we see that his extension rewards two-way value, a guy in Cason and Wallace who the minutes are going to open up for him on the court, the more that he is a viable offensive option, right? We saw that just last week, three days before the season starts, we see that he agrees to a five-year, $139 million rookie scale extension. We see that this was a deal I didn't think was going to get done before the season, but I'm very glad it did because I think the more court time Cason gets, the more that people are going to see just how good this guy is and his value really could have went up into the 30 million per year range but OKC they get him for that 24 million a year price on that extension where he was a restricted free agent this offseason and just days later we see him appearing in the starting lineup against the Denver Nuggets and we see that this quick turnaround well it doesn't affect his play on the court maybe it even motivated him more to go out and prove that this contract is well deserved a contract that we saw five years 139 million dollars Shams tweeted OKC Thunder all-defensive guard Cason and Wallace has agreed to a five-year 139 million dollar rookie scale contract extension agents Jeff Schwartz, Max Lipsetz and Marcus Monk of Excel Sports Management told ESPN and that was the week that the season started Cason and Wallace the quick turnaround the you know just absolute locked in that this guy brought after you know a off season where he didn't know if he was gonna get the long term secured well that's exactly what happened he did secure the long term and something interesting another player from his draft class who secured the long term that was Dereck Lively we see the comment last night about the same time that Wallace signed his extension the Mavericks signed Dereck Lively II for the exact same money as Cason Wallace, the five-year 139 million dollar deal, remember that OKC drafted and then traded Derek Lively on draft night to get Cason Wallace and also the FYI Lively has missed 148 of their 246 games, that is over half over the last three years while Cason Wallace has missed just 19 games, so availability is the best ability in the NBA, let's start there, so if you're going to say that Derek Lively can command the five-year 139 million dollar contract while Cason Wallace already an all-defensive player an NBA champion, I mean this is a no-brainer saying that money's worth it but you can't really go around comparing to other guys, you have to really look at the money in a vacuum to see you know under the salary cap under the second apron specifically how to best build your team and to get a guy like Cason who led the NBA in total steals and deflections last season ranked third in steals per game in each of the last two seasons well it is huge for a defense that is looking to replace Lou Dort, a premier point of attack defender in the entire NBA and Cason Wallace is just 22 so these you know abilities that he had super god-given natural gifts, they should be improving year after year and Cason Wallace talked about you know year after year he's going to be in OKC after signing this extension and he says it felt great, I'm just excited to get that deal done and to be with this organization for years to come, I'm excited to get back on the court and hearing hearing these words from Cason is very encouraging because obviously over the last few years, the market for OKC has opened up drastically. To even have the ability to sign the MVP of the league, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, to a maximum extension, it's a privilege. We're a small market team. We don't have LA, Miami, New York City type of city, oh Lord, big times where you can just enjoy yourself so much outside of the basketball that you know moving they're willing to accept less money anything like that well every one of these players that is in our organization has bought in so heavily over these last few years and Cason Wallace is one of the quieter more reserved guys i would say oh of the past few years and for him to sign this deal long term to buy in and just commit to this team in this city in this organization i mean it speaks the world of what Sam Presti has put together for one thing the culture of the team and just what they can attract is just huge Cason Wallace gives OKC a real three and D starter by signing this contract extension because if you remember we moved Lou Dort, Lou Dort i mean the three ball fell off of a cliff the last couple of years especially last season but you're taking a look at the defense and at his peak of his powers the three ball that was present he shot 44 percent just two years ago so the three ball did exist in that regard and Cason Wallace he is the one replacing that now he showed in the playoffs last year just like Lou Dort he can get hot for stretches he can be that guy he shot 48.4 percent from three on over four attempts per game in the playoffs and the closeout game versus the Spurs game seven he hit four threes in the fourth quarter alone so he was one of the only reasons that OKC had a shot in that game past halftime I would say and you know he showed up when it mattered a lot of the time and if he can bring that shooting with him consistently into the regular season and into the playoffs i mean this is a legit three and 3 and D star in this league in Cason Wallace and i say star because i mean the defense is already there 22 years old he's already an all defensive selection led the league in steals last year we saw that and this guy is getting his flowers around the league for his ability to shut down guys on the perimeter just completely take you out of the game use his quickness to get the ball off of you as well Cason and Wallace is a huge disruptive defender and my question is is 3 and D indeed the ceiling for a 22 year old Cason and Wallace who is my age which is ridiculous to even think about all the room in the world to grow and would you say that that is his ceiling and that is valuable or would you say he can grow into a more offensive player a guy who can be your primary ball handler a guy who can be running your offense as the playmaker the setup man or is defense going to be his main attribute is defense going to be his calling card and he should be focusing less on the offensive side of the ball i mean i'd be surprised to hear less on the offensive focus out of some people but i do think that you could argue uh whether three and d is his ceiling or whether more offensive production is this guy's ceiling because he showed he can be a real deal scorer in february guys went down with injury guys needed to step up and guys who stepped up that was Cason Wallace in the month of February five times he scored 24 more points all of those coming against NBA playoff teams from last season you see against Denver 27 against the Rockets 23 the Cavs 20 the Raptors 27 and the Pistons 23 against them those last three that is three games in a four-day stretch where Cason consistently was on his game offensively so if he can put those three games together in a row I mean who's to say he can't put five games together in a row as he gets older and as he gets older than that 10 games in a row so as this guy you know continues to get some years and games under his belt I hope to see this offensive uh you know skill that he has just get more consistent because it clearly is there that he has some good skills as an offensive player they just need refined and as when you're talking about his ability to impact games I think that it really is there and shows in the future and this is also why they took him over Lu Dort because in the same minutes played he had 13 games with five or more assists compared to Lu Dort with just one and he's also had 14 games with four or more steals tonight he had four steals so you're seeing that he can swing these games uh in these other aspects other than scoring as well so when you're taking a look at a guy in Cason Wallace signing this deal inking it to be here through the end of this decade and also how he can help this team and improve his skills game by game to help this team year by year in the long run well we're just going to see his offensive game is going to grow and it's going to grow gradually right this isn't going to be a guy who's going to be taking up a bunch a bunch of touches he has SGA on his team J-Dub on his team AJ Mitchell brings the ball up Jared McCain can dribble the ball so it's going to be a process watching his game grow and develop but with him being 22 signing that extension for the next five years I mean we have that time and Cason Wallace's starting role it raises OKC's ceiling especially if he can you know develop in that offensive area but defensively I mean you're already seeing that OKC one is the best defensive team in basketball still holding the nuggets to 80 I think it's 82 84 points I mean who's doing that that in the modern NBA as well against uh all-time offensive engine in Nikola Jokic they're already a top of the line defense in the league and Cason Wallace is a top of the line defensive player on that team the top perimeter defender on that team so he one is raising their ceiling just by going out there and being a shutdown guy every night which is now being asked of him and rightfully so with him signing this extension right this money you know commands that the role be filled and that's what Cason Wallace is stepping up to the plate to do in this starting shooting guard spot hopefully you know for the rest of the year anytime that he's healthy this is going to be their starting lineup Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at the one, Cason and Wallace at the two, J-Dub at three, Chet Holmgren at the four and Isaiah Hartenstein holding down the paint at the center position now this was the starting lineup a lot of the time last year, 58 games, Cason Wallace did find himself starting either because J-Dub's missing with doors missing whatever, there was a bunch of injuries we already know that, but to have Cason and Wallace in the preferred starting lineup it does raise this team's ceiling with his abilities as an off-ball offensive player which he showed tonight as a shooter he can do it and he got to the basket a couple times he just didn't convert, that's something we're going to also hope comes along more with him and we see that he is able to play with the starting lineup I mean this whole team has great chemistry but when you're taking a look at you know a starting five that can get out and run I always talk about this team turning defense into offense is when they are at their best and he is involved in the sequence here we see Cason Wallace sort of playing the middleman in this whole defense to offense arrangement Chet Holmgren comes up with the block on the defensive end and that ball makes its way out to Cason and he is going to toss it up top connecting with J-Dub for the emphatic jam and in the middle of this OKC comeback when they were making their run and eventually pulling away to the victory, well it was the Denver turnovers that really turned the tide OKC able to get out in transition and get some easy buckets, Cason Wallace playing a big part of that alongside of guys like Caruso who normally play that brand of defense but Cason Wallace being a big part of it, the point is he is able to help OKC play their best brand of basketball which is turning defense into offense pushing the pace in transition Kason and Wallace does that and my question is should Kason Wallace stay in the starting five is it an absolutely depends on the matchup which would be a B or is he best used as a sixth man I think there is an argument to have Kason as a super sixth man but I think that the point of attack defense when you move Lu Dort it really only makes sense for Kason to step into that role and replace that defense that you did lose but there is an argument to be made for AJ Mitchell to be in the starting lineup for shot creation take the point guard and ball handling duties off of SGA and Ryan has made that case to me before so I'm curious to what you Thunder fans think so leave that down below for me in the comments I'm gonna be going through and reading those but what we learned from this video is that Kason Wallace he signed that extension just a week ago and he is already showing the reasons why it was offered to him right this upside as a shooter an offensive plus for the OKC Thunder and then you're already already at 22 years old you already possess that elite top of the line top tier perimeter defense for the NBA standard right in all defensive selection at 22 that side of the ball is already there for Kason Wallace let's get that out the way but offensively for him to you know clip those three threes after the playoff run that he's just had I mean if we're seeing him come into form as a shooter there's very good signs on our hands remember Lou Dort was an awful shooter at 22 years old and if you go year by year age by age with Cason he is well ahead of where Lou Dort was at this point in his career so Cason's just got to keep working keep his head down and doing what he did last night against the Denver Nuggets we hope to catch you in our next post game recap the Thunder take on the Clippers in a day's time we don't play tomorrow and we hope to see you in that post game we hope to catch you in our videos coming out between now and then there should be a good two to three videos dropping between the combination of me and Ryan Thunder Digest awesome duo and you are hopefully a part of Thunder Digest awesome community where we are trying to hit 11,000 subs by Thanksgiving that is in 34 days time and if you hit subscribe right now you can get 50 videos from Thunder Digest in between now and Thanksgiving that is no joke you're gonna get live game watch along streams you're gonna get those post games that Ryan put out you're gonna get these player-centric videos that you just watched right now from me all of that and more here on Thunder Digest home to the best Thunder community on all of YouTube i hope to see all of your beautiful faces in my next video and i thank you for tuning into today's video and until i see you next time peace and love my friend