The NBA Defensive Player of the Year is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) award given since the 1982–83 NBA season to the best defensive player of the regular season. The winner is selected by a panel of 124 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada, each of whom casts a vote for first, second and third place selections. Each first-place vote is worth five points, second-place votes are worth three points, and a third-place vote is worth one. The player with the highest point total, regardless of the number of first-place votes, wins the award.[1][2] Since the 2022–23 NBA season, winners receive the Hakeem Olajuwon Trophy, named after the two-time defensive player of the year winner.
Although five of the first six winners were perimeter players, the award has traditionally been given to big men who rebound and block shots.[6][7] Only eight perimeter players have been honored: Moncrief, Alvin Robertson, Michael Cooper, Michael Jordan, Gary Payton, Ron Artest, Kawhi Leonard[8] and Marcus Smart. Payton and Smart are the only two point guards to have won.[9] Jordan, Olajuwon, David Robinson, Kevin Garnett and Giannis Antetokounmpo are the only winners to have also won the NBA Most Valuable Player Award (MVP) during their careers;[10] Jordan, Olajuwon and Antetokounmpo won both awards in the same season.[8] In Olajuwon's case, he is the only one to have also won the NBA Finals MVP Award and the NBA championship in the same season.[11] Jordan is the only recipient to have also won the scoring title in the same season,[12] when he also became the only player to win the award while averaging over 30 points per game (35.0).[13] On four occasions, the Defensive Player of the Year recipient was not voted to the NBA All-Defensive First Team in the same year. Robertson in 1986, Mutombo (1995), Tyson Chandler (2012), and Marc Gasol (2013) were instead named to the second team. Whereas the Defensive Player of the Year is voted on by the media, the All-Defensive teams were voted on by NBA coaches prior to 2014.[14][15]
Effective with the 2023–24 season, when a new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the league and its players' union takes effect, players must appear in at least 65 games to be eligible for most major regular-season awards, including Defensive Player of the Year. To receive credit for a game for purposes of award eligibility, a player must have been credited with at least 20 minutes played. However, two "near misses", in which the player appeared for 15 to 19 minutes, can be included in the 65-game count. Protections also exist for players who suffer season-ending injuries, who are eligible with 62 credited games, and those affected by what the CBA calls "bad faith circumstances".[16][17]
Winners
Michael Jordan is one of five players to have won both an MVP and a Defensive Player of the Year award in their career.David Robinson won the award in the 1991–92 NBA season.Gary Payton was the first point guard to win the award.[18]Dwight Howard won the award in three consecutive years (2009–2011).Rudy Gobert won the award four times in a seven-season span.
^"Article XXIX, Section 6: Games Played Requirement for Certain League Honors"(PDF). NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement. National Basketball Players Association. July 2023. pp. 432–38. Retrieved September 13, 2023. The games played requirement specifically applies to the MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, and Most Improved Player awards, as well as the All-NBA and All-Defensive Teams.
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