How the OKC Thunder's Defense, Ball Control Will Retain Championship-Caliber Play

The Oklahoma City Thunder put on a masterful defensive campaign for the 2024-25 season, where the team would take it all the way to claim its first-ever NBA title.

Having the best defensive rating across the league throughout both the regular season and the postseason, Oklahoma City's All-Defensive First Team bid Lu Dort and All-Defensive Second Team bid Jalen Williams were always huge, as well as Alex Caruso, Cason Wallace and so many others.

That stat wasn't necessarily close in either capacity, with the Thunder having a near three-point advantage in defensive rating in the regular season and playoffs. It illustrates just how dominant a defense this team was—and as many didn't take Oklahoma City as serious as they probably should have, the Thunder's defensive presence in the clutch proved its reliability.

But that is also because the talent and on-court production is spread across the entire team. There are not but one or two weak defensive links on this team, and even then, it's minimal.

Throughout last year's postseason run, Oklahoma City dominated the defensive metrics, both on a team level and an individual level. When examining the defensive ratings of players who competed in at least 10 playoff contests, the Thunder dominated in this category, making up 67% of the players in the top 15 for this stat.

Jaylin Williams; Kenrich Williams; Aaron Wiggins; Cason Wallace; Chet Holmgren; Alex Caruso; Dillon Jones; Shai Gilgeous-Alexander; Isaiah Joe; and Ajay Mitchell, the Thunder truly dominated this category. And the decorated players in Jalen Williams and Dort did not fall far behind.

Jaylin Williams and Caruso also made top-five appearances in steal rate, while Caruso and Gilgeous-Alexander cracked top five for steals per contest.

As a unit, the Thunder claimed the most steals in the playoffs and tied for fourth in blocks.