After a strong start to the 2025-26 campaign, the Oklahoma City Thunder picked up a pair of monthly awards from the NBA.
Defensive-Ace brought home the Western Conference Player of the Month Award, edging out his teammates Chet Holmgren and Lu Dort, while bench boss Mark Daigneault earned the Coach of the Month honor for the Western Conference.
This marks the first time Wallace has won the Defensive Player of the Month honor after a stellar start to the year. The Thunder guard leads the league in steals with 2.2 steals per contest, as well as the Western Conference in deflections with 5.0 a night. This has helped the OKC Thunder achieve the best defensive rating in the league at 103.6, a historic mark if they keep this pace up after owning the best defensive rating last season they are doing it again.
Daigneault walked away with his fourth Coach of the Month award, already having a coach of the year in his bag, this was a lock after the Oklahoma City Thunder’s 20-1 start to the year. This is not only the best start in team history but just four wins away from matching the Golden State Warriors’ 24-1 outburst to begin the 2015-16 campaign.
Their counter parts in the Eastern Conference were Toronto Raptors forward Scottie Barnes for the Defensive Player of the Month and Detroit Pistons head coach J.B. Bickerstaff who has led the Pistons to a 16-4 start to the year. A surprise at the top of the Eastern Conference with a three game cushion over the No. 2 seeded New York Knicks.
The Oklahoma City Thunder also saw superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander nominated for the Western Conference Player of the Month honor, where he fell short to Denver Nuggets Superstar Nikola Jokic. The Nuggets big man averaged 28.9 points, 12.4 rebounds and 10.9 assists per game while leading Denver to a 14-5 record to start this season, sitting as the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference.
On the flip side, Gilgeous-Alexander was the constant playing in every game of this 20-1 start for the Bricktown Ballers averaging 32.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, 6.6 assists, 1.5 steals and 0.7 blocks per game while shooting 54% from the floor, 41% from the floor and 88% at the charity stripe.
Up next, the Oklahoma City Thunder begin their December campaign with a late night tip against the Golden State Warriors on Dec. 2 starting at 10:00 PM CT.