​TULSA — Only needing one dribble to make his next read, Jared McCain went with the near full-court pass to Aday Mara. The seven-foot behemoth capped off the quick alley-oop play. Both players lit things up in the first half. Everything went perfectly for the B squad.The Oklahoma City Thunder opened their 2026-27 NBA preseason with a 116-110 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans. Even with the main rotation sitting out, the Tulsa BOK Center got its money’s worth.The Thunder didn’t need long to prove the doubters wrong that they remain 17-deep. Setting the tone early, Mara’s contest at Yves Missi’s dunk attempt resulted in a foul. The seven-footer amped his physicality. Kenrich Williams got things going with a left-wing 3-pointer.The basket remained wide open from that point. Thanks to crisp ball movement — sans Ajay Mitchell’s hero-shot moments — the Thunder absolutely buried the Pelicans on the scoreboard from the outside. McCain and Bennett Stirtz were the main flamethrowers.After the first quarter, the Thunder had a 34-28 lead over the Pelicans. From that moment onward, things only escalated. The Thunder went on a 14-3 run in the second quarter. Mara was affecting shot attempts at the rim on one end. On the other end, he ran down the floor for transition layups. It didn’t take long for the 2026 NBA draft No. 12 pick to get folks excited about his potential.It was another high-scoring frame. The Thunder put up 33 points in the second quarter. They had a 67-52 lead. Keep in mind, the Pelicans ran out their Opening Night starters. McCain hit a trick-shot jumper to enter the halftime break. That’s all the OKC coaching staff needed to see.With the Pelicans still running out Zion Williamson and friends, the Thunder rolled out their C squad. All of their two-way guys and Exhibit-10 dudes played the second half. The only constant from both halves was Stirtz. Even Mara had shown enough to get a short night.The Thunder’s lack of NBA talent on the floor kinda reflected on the scoreboard. Finally, the Pelicans made up ground. All it took was for OKC to sit out its first-string and second-string guys. The Thunder only scored 26 points in the third quarter. The defense fell apart. After three frames, it was suddenly a 93-90 contest.Things continued to avalanche for the Pelicans. They strung together 11 consecutive points at one point in the final frame. It didn’t take long for the scoreboard to return to square one. Bryce McGowens swished an outside jumper to tie things up at 107 points apiece. And then Karlo Matkovic put New Orleans ahead on the next possession with five-plus minutes to go.On their third stringers, OKC’s offense fell apart. Zero scoring juice was left. Stirtz twisted his ankle and had to leave early. The Thunder only scored 17 points en route to a blown 24-point meltdown. By the final buzzer, the BOK Center was mostly just its blue and grey empty seat covers. Fans had filed out.The Thunder shot 53% from the field and went 16-of-33 (48.5%)