When Jalen Williams inked his monstrous new five-year, $239.9 million deal with the OKC Thunder back in July, the consensus opinion seemed to be that he was well worth the lofty price tag.
After all, he served as the second option behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander on this title-winning team while dropping career-best averages of 21.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 5.1 assists on 48.4 percent shooting from the floor and 36.5 percent shooting from beyond the arc en route to his first All-Star and All-NBA nods.
Add in the fact that he produced this well, even after sustaining a torn ligament in his dominant wrist that required offseason surgery, and there's no doubt that Oklahoma City made the right decision to lock him down for the long haul this summer.
Of course, though many may gravitate toward his attributes on offense when pointing out his greatness, it's actually his defensive contributions that truly separate Brown from the rest of the pack at his position.
Now, after a recent edition of the Game Theory Podcast, there may actually be no way to argue against the idea that the Thunder got an absolute steal of a deal with J-Dub's extension, for not only is he viewed as a true three-level bucket-getter, but also as "one of the three or four most switchable defenders in the league."
Thunder star Jalen Williams is tabbed as 18 best defender in NBA
When discussing the current state of the NBA's top defenders, Sam Vecenie of The Athletic tabbed Williams as the 18-best overall, citing his incredible versatility and ability to match up against virtually every position as the primary reasons why.
Earlier on in the campaign, while injuries absolutely ravaged OKC's frontcourt, the 6-foot-6 J-Dub put this elite switchability Vecenie was gushing over on full display, as he filled in as the club's primary center for six games and averaged 26.2 points, 7.3 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 2.7 steals, and 1.2 blocks and boasted a defensive rating of 108.7 along the way.
It's this type of versatility that leads Vecenie to say that Williams is "incredibly important" to the Thunder's top defensive scheme that finished last season number one in the association with a rating of 106.6.
Williams specifically ranked 10 in the entire NBA among those who saw 60 or more games played with an individual defensive rating of 106.5.
Compared to the other highly versatile defenders strewn across the NBA, like Bam Adebayo and Paul George and their cap hits north of 30 percent, Jalen Williams and his peak cap hit of 27.15 percent in 2030-31 only seems to look better by the day.
Vecenie's recent praise fest for his defensive abilities is yet another example of why.