National Media Members Give Jalen Williams, Lu Dort Early All-Defense Nod

After strong starts to the season, Jalen Williams and Lu Dort are beginning to receive all-defense recognition from media members.

Dec 3, 2024; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Jalen Williams (8) celebrates after scoring against the Utah Jazz during the second quarter of an NBA Cup game at Paycom Center. / Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

The Oklahoma City Thunder have had a strong start to the 2024-25 campaign, sitting at 16-5 around a quarter of the way into the regular season.

OKC's impressive record is in large part due to the team's solid efforts on defense, boasting one of the top units in the NBA. Even while Chet Holmgren has been sidelined with a hip injury, the Thunder's defense has still played well for the most part, with contributions from nearly the entire roster.

The two players leading the charge for Mark Daigneault's defense, however, are Jalen Williams and Lu Dort. After helping the Thunder to another strong start, Williams and Dort have start to receive recognition from national media members.

On a recent episode of The Athletic's Game Theory Podcast, hosts Sam Vecenie and Bryce Simon detailed their "quarter-season" all-defense teams. Williams made the second team for both hosts while Simon included Dort on his list as well.

"I gave Jalen Williams the bump, again, because he was asked to play center," Vecenie said. "I also think he's been great on defense this year. He's been fantastic one-on-one, he's been great in help defense, he's had to take on bigger assignments. Lu Dort, if you just want to have the better one-on-one defender, I totally get that, too. He is as good as anybody in the league at taking on one-on-one matchups against guards and bigger wings. He is so, so good at that. So, I get having Lu Dort here, too."

In 21 games this season, Williams is averaging 2.1 steals and 0.9 blocks per game, while defending a vaerity of players, from guards, to big men. Dort is averaging 1.1 steals and 0.8 blocks per contest in 21 starts this year.

Dort began to earn mainstream recognition for his skills as a defender during the 2024 postseason, when he flustered Brandon Ingram and the Pelicans in a masterful, four-game defensive performance.

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