Former Sixer Isaiah Joe develops into key role player for title-contending Thunder

Isaiah Joe dialed up a corner three-pointer late in Tuesday’s first quarter, watching the ball splash through the net from in front of the 76ers’ bench he used to occupy.

That shot is an example of what Oklahoma City Thunder teammate Alex Caruso calls Joe’s “superhero trait.” Yet Joe, a 25-year-old guard, has developed into much more than a lethal long-range shooter with the Thunder, who picked him up after he was released by the Sixers just before the start of the 2022-23 season. Joe finished with 10 points on 4-of-8 shooting in his latest return to Philly, a 118-102 Oklahoma City victory over the shorthanded Sixers at the Wells Fargo Center. And he epitomizes a young Thunder team that has morphed into a legitimate NBA title contender.

“He plays different roles [and] doesn’t flinch, regardless of the circumstances,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said of Joe. “Plays in-character every single night. Very consistent as a worker, as a person, as a player. …

“And I’ve said this many times, but he gets labeled as a shooter because of how well he shoots it, but he’s got a complete game.”

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During his 21 minutes Tuesday, Joe got free for easy buckets by cutting for a dunk, then by running the floor for a transition slam. He zipped a pass out to teammate Lu Dort for a fastbreak layup. When he hit a deep shot from the right wing that gave Oklahoma City a 106-92 lead in the fourth quarter on the way to a 33rd win in 39 games, he flashed three fingers in celebration. Joe was the only rotation reserve for the Thunder to finish with a positive plus/minus.

That was a sampling of the ways Joe helps the Western Conference’s best team, a topic Daigneault said he had discussed with a friend earlier Tuesday.

The coach said Joe excels at creating space and “gravity” on the offensive end. And, unprompted, Daigneault and Caruso both praised Joe’s defense — a significant nod given Joe’s slighter 6-foot-5, 181-pound frame and that the Thunder enter Wednesday leading the NBA in efficiency on that end of the floor (102.9 points allowed per 100 possessions). Joe recently switched onto New York Knicks MVP candidate Jalen Brunson, Daigneault noted, while Caruso said Joe “puts his chin on the line, and his chest on the play, and takes charges.”

“For a guy that’s kind of a marksman-type player, a lot of those guys are a liability on the other end,” Daigneault added. “He gives great effort. He takes a lot of pride in that end.”

Added Joe: “When I’m out there, I never want to be the odd guy out on the defensive end.”

That overall progress has unfolded since what Joe describes as “definitely an odd time,” when he was the Sixers’ final roster cut following the 2022-23 preseason. The 2020 second-round draft pick swiftly transitioned from a veteran-laden Sixers team, on which he was not getting consistent rotation minutes, to a Thunder squad still in the midst of a rebuild after losing stars Russell Westbrook and Paul George and acquiring a mountain of draft picks.

Oklahoma City star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander acknowledged Tuesday that adding Joe at that time was “a little bit unexpected.” Joe credited his faith and the organization — which Daigneault said is focused on “developing an identity that everybody can plug into, and plug their strengths into” — with helping him quickly learn new schemes and become comfortable with new teammates, coaches, and staff. The change also brought Joe closer to his hometown of Fort Smith, Ark., where he “[gets] to see my people quite often.”

“Once I got acclimated with everything, got used to everything,” Joe said, “I definitely saw the brighter side.”

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The newfound playing time — he averaged 19.1 minutes in 73 games, with 10 starts, during his first Thunder season — encouraged Joe to “test myself and build skills” such as playmaking, basketball IQ, and “all the other little things … to win a game.” He has averaged at least eight points per game in each of his three seasons with Oklahoma City. And Joe’s personality — “there’s no cynicism, there’s no excuses,” Daigneault said, — makes him an ideal complementary teammate for a group headlined by the MVP candidate Gilgeous-Alexander and All-Star hopeful Jalen Williams.

“He knows what he does every night,” Gilgeous-Alexander said Tuesday. “He does it at a high level. And it makes it easier for the rest of the group, because we know what we’re going to get from him. We know how he plays, where his spots are.

“And he’s a very, very good shooter, so that always helps out there.”

That was on display during a dynamite performance at Madison Square Garden last week, when he made eight of his 11 three-point attempts and finished with a season-high 31 points in the Thunder’s 126-101 thrashing of the Knicks. When tipped off about Joe’s massive performance in the Sixers’ postgame locker room that night, friend and former teammate Tyrese Maxey audibly reacted after pulling up the box score on his phone.

Maxey and Joel Embiid are Joe’s only former Sixers teammates who remain on the roster, and neither played in Tuesday’s matchup due to injury. Yet Joe maintains connections to where he spent his first two NBA seasons. Last summer, he participated in the celebrity golf tournament for Maxey’s foundation. Following Tuesday’s game, Joe dapped up the attendants in the visitors’ locker room.

Those acts illustrated that Joe remains grateful he began his NBA career with the Sixers. He is also thrilled he landed in Oklahoma City, where his personal development has coincided with the Thunder’s ascent into a title contender.

“It’s a long journey, and you’ve got to appreciate everybody that was a part of that,” Joe said. “… I cherish every moment. I don’t regret anything that happened. I’m happy where I’m at, and I’m happy where my path has led thus far.”