Why the OKC Thunder Have The MOST DOMINANT Defense in NBA History

Why the OKC Thunder Have The MOST DOMINANT Defense in NBA History

Oklahoma City’s defense combines sensational athleticism with exceptional intelligence. Their elite hardware powered by a lightning fast operating system. During their dominant 68 win season, Oklahoma City led the league in defensive rating, deflections, and steals. But what exactly makes them so good? In this video, I’m going to show you the three things that separate Oklahoma City from everybody else in the league. Oklahoma City is one of the most intelligent teams in the modern era. Rarely do you see them blow a coverage or miss a rotation. This is due to their focus on KYP. Know your personnel. Oklahoma City always knows who’s got the ball and what their coverage is supposed to be based on that player’s ability. Here’s a basic example. Malik Beasley is a better shooter than he is a playmaker. So, if there is a closeout situation with him, then the defender should sprint to run him off the line, turning him from a three-point shooter into a driver. In their series against Memphis, Oklahoma City frustrated all-star Jiren Jackson Jr. by adhering to a strict KY process during his two favorite actions, postups and face up isolations. This season, Jackson Jr. averaged more turnovers than assist in both of those actions. So, Oklahoma City’s KP process centered around turning him from a scorer into a playmaker. Here, Oklahoma City knows they want to turn him into a passer. So, Caruso gets on his top shoulder and Homegrren prepares to double. At the same time, Gilgus Alexander, Wallace, and Wigan shrink the floor. When Jackson spins baseline, Homegrren is there to take away a scoring opportunity. Because Oklahoma City knows their KY rules, they understand the goal is to keep Jackson Jr. out of the paint. To accomplish this, Wiggins puts on ball pressure on Jackson Jr., and Wallace is in the gap to stunt and deter drive attempts. When Jackson Jr. makes a good read to find Pippen. Hongren stays disciplined not to help up the lane and allow easy dump down pass to Edy. Caruso sinks to further deter a pass to Edy and leaves Williams Jr. wide open in the corner. Home run gets a block and Oklahoma City turns defense into transition offense. The second thing that separates Oklahoma City from everybody else is their raw physical tools, their wingspan, their speed, their strength. This team is built to play defense in the pace and space era. Between Homegrren, Hartinstein, Dort Williams, and Gilas Alexander, Prey has assembled one of the league’s biggest and longest starting fives. This group boasts a collective wingspan of 35 1/2 ft, an average of over 7 feet per player, and they utilize that length to their advantage, generating six steals and 5 1/2 blocks per game. Those 12 opportunities are rocket fuel for their transition offense, creating moments where their collective speed can turn defense into easy baskets. If the starting five wasn’t scary enough, Oklahoma City also has a plethora of chaos agents they can bring in off the bench. Wallace, Joe, and Caruso possess the elite quickness needed to smother ball handlers and get into passing lanes. This season, Oklahoma City generated more deflections and forced more turnovers than any other team in the league. No player embodies this team’s defensive intensity quite like Alex Caruso. This season, he averaged deflection every five and a half minutes. Alex Caruso is a defensive madman out there. This year per 36, he was first in defensive rating, first in defensive win share, and even first in opponent’s points in the paint. He’s truly a defensive psychopath. The Alex Caruso effect can be felt in every defensive action from guarding the post to blowing up pick and rolls. Which brings us to our third thing. The thing that Oklahoma City does better than any other team in the NBA, they defend the pick and roll. This year, they led the league in pick and roll defense, giving up a staggering 94 points for every 100 pick and rolls defended. The pick and roll action is the epicenter of modern NBA offense. It’s run more than every other action combined. Teams that know how to defend the pick and roll and have a deep rolodex of coverages can survive against almost any elite NBA player. Before this pick and roll even happens, Dort’s on ball pressure forced Tatum to turn his back on the basket, taking away any refusal option. This allows Dort to be more aggressive fighting over the screen because Tatum can only go right. When Dort gets tagged, Joe switches on to Tatum and Dort peels back to Hower. When Tatum prepares to go off Cornett’s screen, Williams moves into a perfect lowman help position. Dort sinks to play both Hower and Craig if Williams has to meet the roller. Hartinstein executes a perfect level to show coverage on Tatum. And for the third time on this possession through doing the work early, an Oklahoma City player dictates the only space Tatum can go on the court. Fast forward to the Memphis series where Wallace and Wiggins switch the screening action. Williams immediately corrals the ball and Wallace gets up in the gap to deter Pippen’s driving lane. When Jackson cuts behind Wallace, Dort picks up Jackson’s cut and instructs Wallace to next onto his man. When the ball is swung to Bane, Wallace executes a perfect KY closeout by taking away the three-point shot and then the drive. He then atones for his previous mistake of losing man and ball defensive positioning the only way an Oklahoma City player knows how. a deflection, a steel, and a transition dump. The Oklahoma City equivalent of 10 Hail Marys and Five Our Fathers. Oklahoma City didn’t invent a new defense. There’s no proverbial smoking gun here. Just simple coverages executed at lightning fast speeds by some of the best athletes in the world. Thanks for checking out this one to the end. I hope you enjoyed the video. Let me know in the comments who you think has the best chance to beat Oklahoma City this year. And make sure you check out Marz and Legs four times a week on the AllNBA podcast. I’ll see you guys later. We all sitting like the mayor.

Marc Campbell breaks down the Oklahoma City Thunder’s historic 2025 defense and the THREE things they do that make them so good.

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00:00 – Intro
00:24 – How the Thunder use KYP to shut down opposing stars
02:11 – Sam Presti & Mark Daigneault built the Thunder to be a dominant defense
03:12 – Alex Caruso is a defensive MONSTER
03:40 – How OKC defens the Pick and Roll better than any team in the NBA

ABOUT MARC CAMPBELL:
Since 2018 Marc has worked as a private shooting coach, serving multiple NBA players, from rookies to All-NBA players. For more NBA and Player Development content, subscribe to the Low Man Help Substack:
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