We’ve reached the middle of an NBA season filled with injuries to top players — Luka Doncic and Joel Embiid have already missed too many games to qualify for end-of-season awards — and plenty of surprises, like the Cleveland Cavaliers. at the top of the East and the rapid rise of the Houston Rockets in the West. The midpoint also means it’s time to take stock of the NBA playoff awards. Throughout the week, I’ll be making my picks for some of the NBA’s biggest awards at this point in the season. Today: Defensive Player of the Year.
NBA DPOY: Victor Wembanyama
2. Evan Mobley
3. Ivica Zubac
It’s obvious.
With all due respect to the others on this list and a few right next to it, Wembanyama is clearly the most influential and best defender in the league. It’s not just the 3.9 blocks per game that puts him at the top of the list (although that’s 1.4 more per game than second-place Walker Kessler), it’s the way he changes everything on the side defense of the field. Take the Spurs’ win last night against the Lakers, where he had “only” two blocks – one on a Dalton Knecht corner 3. There were two times in the game where a Lakers player passed a closeout in the lane with the intention of scoring on the rim or setting up a floater, only to have to stop, pivot and return the ball because that he had no way of playing (Dorian Finney-Smith once, Gabe Vincent once). It happens every game.
He changes everything on the field with his defense.
When Wembanyama is on the pitch, the Spurs have a top-six defense in the league, despite some opposing players being clearly targeted. When he’s off the field, it quickly goes back to the 24th-ranked defense (which leaves the Spurs ranked 12th defensively in the league, middle of the pack).
Evan Mobley has rightly received a lot of praise this season for his improved play and aggressiveness on offense, but he’s always been an elite defensive big – and with the freedom to move around a bit thanks to Jarrett Allen, Mobley has been a strength this season. . The Cavaliers have a top-10 defense behind him, although one could argue that Allen deserves as much credit as Mobley.
The Los Angeles Clippers have the fourth-ranked defense in the NBA this season and Ivica Zubac says in the paint he is quietly having an incredible season. Zubac is not only a big body in the paint, he can step out and defend on the perimeter in spots, he is a versatile defender.
There are others that need to be considered for the final two spots on this list. Jaren Jackson Jr. of Memphis – a former DPOY – is on that list.
Perimeter players are short-changed by some voters, the idea being that bigs have a greater defensive impact because they protect the rim, but that idea is increasingly dated in a 3-point NBA. With that, Amen Thompson deserves serious consideration for his play this season in Houston, another team with an elite defense. Dyson Daniels in Atlanta is in the same boat.
Oklahoma City has the best defense in the NBA, but the challenge with them and this award is that there isn’t a single player to single out — every defender the Thunder deploy is at least solid to good. This is the epitome of team defense. Heck, they bring their best perimeter defender, Alex Caruso, off the bench. Isaiah Hartenstein would be in my mix for one of the final two spots, but he missed 15 games to open the season with a fractured hand, if he misses three more all season he won’t reach the threshold. 65 matches. Lou Dort might be lauded as a representation of collective efforts, but that’s a bit of a cop-out.
Orlando is much of the same, an elite team defense where it’s hard to single out a clear DPOY player. Jonathan Isaac is a stopper when he plays, but he comes off the bench 17 minutes a night and that’s just not enough to make a DPOY impact. Jalen Suggs is in my mix.
The final two spots make my end-of-season ballot feel wide open, but it’s hard to imagine Wembanyama not getting the top spot.
