The Thunder’s unstoppable defense might carry them all the way

With the addition of Alex Caruso, the Oklahoma City Thunder have mastered small-ball defense to become the undisputed best defense in the NBA, and potentially of all time. The Thunder’s defensive rating, orb the average score they held their opponents to, in their first six games was 95.1. Compare that to most teams, who are around the 108 to 117 mark, and it’s clear that the Thunder are in a league of their own when it comes to defense, with the next closest team being the 101.0-rated Golden State Warriors. 

The team’s defense was already stacked during the 2022-2023 season. With arguably the best defensive point guard in the NBA, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and dedicated All-Defensive caliber players like Luguentz Dort and Cason Wallace, who are also great offensive players. All three players are shorter for NBA standards, with Gilgeous-Alexander at 6′ 6″, Dort at 6′ 4″, and Wallace at 6′ 3″, but this gives them the perfect body type to play relentless, snake-like and most importantly, fast. All three guys can snatch a ball out of nowhere from all-star guards like Trae Young. 

With this stacked roster of small-ball pocket-pickers, the Thunder doubled down on their strategy over the offseason, trading Josh Giddy for the 6’5” guard known as the “Bald Mamba,” Alex Caruso. Since 2016, Caruso has been pestering the league with his sneaky steals that come seemingly out of nowhere, a perfect fit for the Thunder. In this new system, Caruso was the missing piece that took the Thunder from ‘great’ to ‘unstoppable,’ holding teams to an average of 92 points when he was on the floor in his first six games with Oklahoma City. 

With all these guards running around the floor, the paint can be a weak point for Oklahoma City’s defense when facing sky-scraping, versatile players like Victor Wembanyama, but this problem seems minuscule when the Thunder’s towering 7’1” Chet Holmgren is on the floor. Holmgren’s ridiculous 7’6” wingspan and ball IQ have led him to be leading the NBA in

blocks in the first six games, with an average of 3.3 blocks per game. The next closest player was Wembanyama, who averaged 3.0. 

These statistics can make the Thunder seem impenetrable, however, a weakness still remains. Rebounding. Oklahoma City had the fifth-worst rebounding in the NBA last season with an average adjusted rebound chance of 60.2%, getting out-rebounded almost every game. So far this season, the Thunder have improved, but they are still average, not as bad as last year, but not great either. 

The Thunder addressed this weak spot in the offseason when they paid the former 7-foot-tall New York Knicks center Isaiah Hartenstein 87 million dollars over three years to join the team. Weighing 250 pounds compared to Holmgren’s 207 pounds, Hartenstein is known for being a tough, reliable defender, averaging 8.3 rebounds per game last season, exactly what the Thunder needed. 

Before he even got the chance to play an official game with his new team, Hartenstein fractured his left hand during a pre-season game and is expected to remain out until at least November 21 or sometime in early December. With how good the Thunder’s defense has already been doing, Hartenstein’s return will add yet another deadly defensive piece that opposing teams will have to navigate through. 

Hartenstein will give the Thunder even more options, the ability to always have a big man on the court, or even play him at the same time as Holmgren, having two massive defenders to deal with at all times. Most importantly, Hartenstein fits well into the Thunder’s fast-paced ball-rotation ecosystem with his quick and accurate on-court decision-making. 

Oklahoma City’s speed, shot-blocking ability, future rebounding potential, and steal consistency make them the NBA’s biggest defensive threat. In their first five games, the Thunder have forced 20.6 turnovers per game, a number that hasn’t been reached by any team since the 1982-83 season. The Oklahoma City Thunder have huge potential for a historic season, one where they could go down as the best defensive team in modern basketball.