Jalen Williams Explains Fix for Defensive Player Awards

The Oklahoma City Thunder are littered with talented defenders and own one of the best defensive units in the sports history. Jalen Williams explained how they can fix the NBA defensive player of the year awards.
Jan 12, 2025; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma (33) shoots the ball over Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jalen Williams (8) defended in the second quarter at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
Jan 12, 2025; Washington, District of Columbia, USA; Washington Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma (33) shoots the ball over Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jalen Williams (8) defended in the second quarter at Capital One Arena. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-Imagn Images / Geoff Burke-Imagn Images
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The NBA award season is right around the corner and at the halfway point of the season, the debates are heating up. Mainly in Oklahoma City, centered around the MVP award which superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has a great shot of winning.

However, there is another lingering questiones when it comes to award season: What will the NBA do with the defensive awards? The OKC Thunder have a historic defense and with just two All-defensive teams, how many members of the roster will crack the all-defensive squad? Could they all split votes from each other causing everyone to miss? That will be an interesting storyline to follow.

With the all-defensive team list, comes the defensive player of the year award which Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama is the clear favorite for as votes default to handing to an anchoring big man.

However, OKC Thunder rising star Jalen Williams pitched an idea on a podcast of creating two defensive player of the year awards to negate this trend.

"I think there should be two Defensive Player of the Year's... it's just a big every year," the Thunder rising star said on the Young Man and the Three Podcast.

This clip came out prior to the Thunder taking on the 76ers and after that contest, Williams was asked to expand on the award and the all-defensive teams.

“It would put a lot of us on the defensive team," Williams said. “There’s too many good defenders in the NBA. … the offense has three teams, you can surely find three for defense. Obviously the argument is ‘Are fans really watching for defense.’”

The pitch for the addition of a third team is one that this scribe can get behind, it just makes sense. With three All-NBA teams, it only makes sense to award three all-defensive units as well. in which case, the thunder could nearly own one of the three rosters.


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Rylan Stiles
RYLAN STILES

Rylan Stiles is a credentialed media member covering the Oklahoma City Thunder. He hosts the Locked On Thunder Podcast, and is Lead Beat Writer for Inside the Thunder. Rylan is also an award-winning play-by-play broadcaster for the Oklahoma Sports Network.