March 24, 2026
Bill Streicher/Imagn Images
Jared McCain does not think he has experienced closure just yet. But he is getting there.
PHILADELPHIA – An hour before every game he played with the Sixers, Jared McCain rounded up a group of Sixers youngsters. It was time to head to chapel, which in NBA arenas is available to members of both teams. So, on Monday night, the band was back together.
"Another weird situation, having different colors on," McCain said after scoring 13 points as his new team, the Oklahoma City Thunder, soundly defeated his former team, the Sixers. "But it was really cool. That was, like, my crew. We'd all go to chapel, and it's a very intimate space, so very cool to have a quiet time before the game, especially just seeing my brothers that I've played with for a while now, and a lot of people in the organization who come to chapel as well. So it was a cool, intimate space [where] we got to just talk about God and be able to celebrate each other."
McCain certainly needed something to quiet his mind; he tried to keep his emotions in check speaking with reporters after the Thunder held their morning shootaround but acknowledged after the game that he had a lot on his mind heading into his first matchup against the Sixers since he was traded to Oklahoma City in February.
"Even just waking up this morning, it was a lot of anxiety – about the game, nerves, excitement," McCain said. "So I knew I just had to control what I could control out there, make a hustle play, and whenever I get out there, the emotions kind of go away. But it definitely was tough going out there, especially against all my old teammates."
One way to shake off the jitters: get off to a strong start. McCain did exactly that, burying a tough triple over former teammate Andre Drummond while falling to his left in the corner on his first shot attempt of the game, and on the very next Oklahoma City possession rolling a three moving to his right. His former teammates looked on, almost appearing paralyzed by the irony of what was happening. Suddenly, the emotions were not going away:
JARED MACCAIN HITS BACK TO BACK 3PM IN HIS RETURN TO PHILLY —
— Hoop Central (@TheHoopCentral) March 23, 2026
Tyrese Maxey’s reaction says it all. 🤣🔥
pic.twitter.com/l5Pte4F8BM
"Hitting those two threes, a little bit of emotion came out there for sure," McCain said, "and just excitement and just [feeling] blessed to have an opportunity to play basketball again. And so grateful for the fans that cheered for me when I came in the game."
After a wild bunch of weeks in which he was traded during a road trip, had to find a place to live in Oklahoma City while family and friends also moved and ditched the house in Philadelphia he grew to love for its sauna, McCain got to see a batch of familiar faces. He made the rounds before and after his pregame warmup session. He spent time with his trusted veteran Kyle Lowry, assistant coach Rico Hines and rookie classmate Justin Edwards before retreating to the visitor's locker room, an unfamiliar place for him. He could not single out any individual reunion during the day as particularly meaningful to him.
While the Sixers did not play a tribute video for McCain – perhaps playing 60 games with a franchise is not enough for such an honor – he received a massive ovation before hitting those two threes. After the game, McCain expressed his appreciation for Sixers fans for the second time of the day.
The fact that his exit was so frustrating to fans that had barely gotten to see him play meant a lot, McCain said. But that ovation might have been a bit disorienting: once McCain stepped onto the floor, he almost forgot he had been traded. He barely stopped himself short of uttering the phrase "it was like I was on the Sixers again." Then, he relented and admitted it.
"It was really weird. It was really weird," McCain said. "It was like, when I first even got on the court, it was like I was on the Sixers aga– it was really weird. Like, I was saying hi to the coaches, talking to Rico. It felt like I was on the Sixers again."
The unfortunate truth for Sixers fans still fuming about McCain's sudden departure, and likely a difficult thing for McCain, who acknowledged he does not yet feel closure, to process: he is better off not being on the Sixers.
McCain plays for the best team in the NBA, which traded for him in the midst of multiple months of massive struggles with a clear plan to incorporate him into what was already a juggernaut. The Thunder boast a renowned environment in the locker room, and McCain has fit like a glove and benefitted from their tremendous team chemistry.
"Jared speaks for himself, Everybody knows he's bubbly, he fits the team really well," Thunder star wing Jalen Williams said after Oklahoma City's win. "Just a really good kid. I think if you're a really good person, wherever you go you can infect the team with your energy, and he does a good job with that. And I think we're also a fun team to be around as well. So I think he gets a lot of confidence to be himself, and he's already like that anyway."
Sam Presti, largely thought of as the best team-builder and shot-caller in the NBA, went nearly a decade without trading a first-round pick for an active player before he decided his first addition at a trade deadline in two years would be McCain. And the early returns have been far better than even the most passionate supporters of the 21-year-old would have anticipated.
"He's a great guy. He's fit in very well with the group. It's felt like he's been here longer than he has," Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said before the game. "I think that's a credit to him, and I think it's a credit to our team. He's come in for great respect for this group of guys, what they've accomplished. He's done so with confidence, though. He hasn't been deferential. He's played aggressively, confidently."
McCain has continually credited his new teammates and coaches in Oklahoma City for empowering him to be himself. He has tried to resist the urge to feel pressure to prove the Thunder right for betting on him. But no matter how much praise the Sixers and their players give to McCain, the organization that drafted him bet against him not even two years later. So, after nearly forgetting he was no longer on the Sixers upon checking in, McCain came to a realization. It was one he convinced himself of when he meditated on Monday morning. "It's going to happen," McCain told himself. "You're going to have those feelings. You're going to have those emotions."
"There's that subtle feeling of you want to prove the team wrong that traded you," McCain said. "...At the end of the day, I just wanted to win. Of course, I wanted to beat the Sixers. Of course."
JARED MCCAIN'S RETURN TO PHILADELPHIA
Thunder 123, Sixers 103 | McCain's full pregame comments
