Oklahoma City is off to its best start in franchise history, leading the NBA with a 15-1 overall record. After last season’s NBA title run, it’s clear that there’s no championship hangover with this group. They’ve approached the season with a hungry mindset, and they’re ready for more.

The Thunder’s overall net rating speaks for itself — they are in a league of their own. Oklahoma City has a point differential of 15.4, which is an NBA best by a wide margin. It’s historic. This team is powered by its MVP, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, but the rest of the supporting cast has stepped up in a big way. The team’s second All-Star, Jalen Williams, hasn’t played in a single game this year, and Oklahoma City continues to dominate its competition.

The offense is humming, but it’s the defense that’s leading the way once again. The Thunder’s defensive rating currently sits at 102.7, which is head and shoulders above the rest of the pack. The gap between the Thunder and the second place Pistons is larger than the gap between the Pistons and the No. 20 ranked Bulls. This Thunder team is full of terrific individual defenders that have fully bought into the team’s elite scheme.

Of course, everyone on this Thunder roster can defend. From top to bottom, this team loves to play defense. But it begs the question, who’s the best defender this team has to offer? For Gilgeous-Alexander, it was an impossible question, but he did his best to break it down.

“It’s the hardest question ever, of all time.”

SGA couldn’t narrow down who the Thunder’s best defender is 🔒

OKC’s elite defense is in action seeking 8 wins in a row Friday night at 10:00pm/et on NBA League Pass, as part of @emirates NBA Cup action

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— NBA (@NBA) November 20, 2025

“That’s the hardest question ever, of all-time,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “I don’t know. It depends on what you need. It’s Dub (Jalen Williams), AC (Alex Caruso), Lu (Dort), and Cason (Wallace) — those are the guards. And then there’s Chet (Holmgren) and (Isaiah) Hartenstein. I don’t know, I don’t have an answer for you.

“If you need someone to completely take somebody out of the basketball game, Lu Dort. If you need someone to roam around and disrupt the offense, Alex Caruso. If you need someone to get his hands on every ball, you need a bunch of turnovers, Caso. If you’re a smaller team and need someone to guard a bigger guy, Dub. Now if you are a smaller team and have zero rim protection, Chet Holmgren. And then Hart, too, in terms of rim protection and communication out there.”

Gilgeous-Alexander is completely right — there’s no way to choose just one of the Thunder’s defenders and deem them best. Holmgren is the odds-on favorite to win Defensive Player of the Year currently and is anchoring a historic unit down low, but there’s so many unique styles of defense on this team right now.

On the team, Dort probably has the reputation of the premier defender. And he has earned that by taking on tough matchups and gaining respect of his peers. But Williams and Wallace have really stepped up as up-and-comers in terms of the NBA’s best defenders. Both players have grown every year, and seem to be defensive cornerstones for years to come. Caruso has all the accolades, too, and gets to star in his role for this team.

Right now, every player that Gilgeous-Alexander mentioned — aside from Williams, who has yet to play and could miss out on individual accolades because of the game minimum — deserves to be on an All-Defensive team. This Thunder squad has a unique collection of talented defenders that can all bring something different to the table. And what Gilgeous-Alexander failed to mention is that he’s a pretty darn good defender himself, too.