He’s the comedic relief inside an unusually tight locker room that was built organically, either through the draft or with players who were shunned by other organizations and came to Oklahoma City when they were young, only for the franchise to develop them into helpful contributors. He’s the anchor of the NBA’s most smothering defense, the deserving second-place finisher in Defensive Player of the Year voting in 2026. He’s the highly intellectual individual who juxtaposes long diatribes about basketball philosophy, ones where he can identify other teams’ play calls as quickly as Shakespeare could notice iambic pentameter, with aloof gaffes on team planes.

This article originally appeared on Hoops Hype: He’s the highly intellectual individual who juxtaposes …