Oklahoma City Thunder: 5 takeaways from the 2018-19 NBA season
By Nick Crain
5. Paul George is a true defensive leader
One of the biggest questions coming into the 2018-19 season for the Oklahoma City Thunder was the health of Andre Roberson. Coming off of a ruptured patella tendon, it was unclear as to when he would return to the court. Roberson had established himself as one of the best perimeter defenders in the league, earning NBA All-Defensive Second Team honors in 2017.
With Roberson out, Paul George was asked to step up and shoulder even more of a load on the defensive end. George, already known for being an excellent defender, has a proven track record of his own. This includes NBA All-Defensive First Team honors in 2014, along with NBA All-Defensive Second Team selections in 2013 and 2016. Even with all of these accolades, Paul George had never won an NBA Defensive Player of the Year award.
In the 2018-19 season, he would make a case to win that exact award. George led Oklahoma City to the fourth-best defensive rating in the league. The Thunder were a consistently good defensive team all year behind George’s 2.2 steals and 3.8 deflections per game, both tops in the league. He was also third in the NBA in defensive win shares at 0.166 and was the clear leader on defense.
Of all the things that were inconsistent for the Thunder this year, their defense was not one of them with Paul George leading the charge.