After the Thunder traded away Isaiah Joe, Aaron Wiggins and Luguentz Dort in three separate cost-cutting moves, Cason Wallace is expected have an expanded offensive role in his fourth NBA season, according to Rylan Stiles of SI.com.

Wallace, who is eligible for a rookie scale extension this offseason, said at his end-of-season press conference in May that he enjoyed a stretch in late February when he had more on-ball opportunities amid injuries to several backcourt players, Stiles notes.

“That was a fun point in time. That was fun, having the ball and just being able to showcase my game and just do what the team needed me to do to win,” Wallace said. “That’s what it’s all about at the end of the day is just going out there and trying to win, so I look at those clips and think about that.”

While Stiles agrees it’s fun to think about Wallace making strides as an on-ball creator, he says a more realistic — and attainable — goal would be for the 22-year-old guard to become a more consistent three-point shooter. After converting 41.9% of his outside attempts as a rookie, Wallace’s three-point percentage dropped to 35.6% in year two and 35.1% last season.

Here’s more from around the Northwest:

• In a subscriber-only column for The Oklahoman, Jenni Carlson argues ex-Thunder forward Dort deserves to have his No. 5 jersey hang in the rafters of Oklahoma City’s arena someday. Carlson points out that Nick Collison is the only former Thunder player to have his jersey retired and states that Dort’s seven years with the team were “more impactful” than Collison’s 10.
• At minimum, fans should expect the Jazz to be a play-in team in 2026/27, Sarah Todd of The Deseret News writes in a mailbag article. While it’s difficult to envision how some of the new pieces will fit together — Jaren Jackson Jr. only played two games with Utah after being acquired in February and No. 2 overall pick Darryn Peterson is entering his rookie season — Todd says the Jazz “had to really work to lose games” in the past and should be more successful in the upcoming season.
• Todd’s mailbag about the Jazz also covers questions about possibly pursuing star trades and which players will be the primary offensive initiators in ’26/27. Todd expects Keyonte George to be the team’s primary ball-handler, but notes that head coach Will Hardy often tasks multiple players with initiating the offense.