The OKC Thunder may have been led by the league's scoring champion in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, but, as a collective, the club's claim to fame during the 2024-25 season was undoubtedly their elite play on the less glamorous side of the ball.
One of the most dominant defensive units the game has ever seen, Oklahoma City found themselves wrapping up the regular season ranking first in defensive rating (106.6), opponent field goal percentage (43.6), deflections (1751), and points allowed in the paint (42.5).
During their title-winning postseason excursion, they were able to keep up similarly, if not more impressive levels of play in these particular areas, while setting the all-time records for things like most steals and the highest total turnover margin along the way.
Mentioned in the same breath as the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls and the 2015-16 San Antonio Spurs, there's little debate over the idea that OKC's first championship was won largely due to their stupendous defensive efforts, and, during a recent appearance on the Out The Mud Podcast, star forward Jalen Williams revealed what he believes to be the driving force to their defensive success.
Jalen Williams says 'pride' is what makes Thunder defense so dominant
Asked point-blank by host Tony Allen (one of the greatest defenders of all time, mind you) when the Thunder started to base their "culture" on defensive play, Williams was quick to say that, in his mind, "pride" is the driving force for their motivation in this particular side of play.
"It's like, I don't want my man to score. I don't want the team to have to cover for me... Granted, some nights, you're gonna get your a** busted. That's just basketball, that's how it goes. But, it's like, he's going to have to work the whole time. It's the mentality that our team has. I think, some of it starts with Shai being a leader. Shai's not afraid to pick up and play D. And then it just trickles down from there," Williams said.
Among those who saw 50 or more games of action this past season, the Thunder rostered two of the top-three, four of the top five, five of the top nine, and eight of the top 20 players in defensive rating.
Williams, who's 106.5 rating ranked 17 in the league, established himself as arguably Oklahoma City's most valuable weapon on the defensive end, as he proved capable of guarding every position, especially early on in the year where he was tasked with filling in as their primary center while the likes of Chet Holmgren, Isaiah Hartenstein, and Jaylin Williams were all out due to injury.
Over this six game stretch, the All-Star boasted impressive averages of 2.7 steals, and 1.2 blocks while holding opponents to a 44.9 percent shooting clip and sporting a defensive rating of 108.7 along the way.
His stint at the five was easily the most obvious individual example of every Thunder player's drive to not be "the weak link," as he referred to it in the podcast, and it's this specific kind of mentality that had him and his teammates put forth one of the best defensive campaigns the game has ever seen.