2022-23 NBA Preseason Awards Media Poll: Defensive Player of the Year
A new NBA season is upon us and with it comes speculation about what will happen over the next few months.
Who will win this season's awards? Which teams will finish with the best and worst records? Who has the best chance to make the All-Star Game for the first time in their career?
Fastbreak on FanNation polled 21 different NBA media members, some who cover the league as a whole and some who cover an individual team, asking them these specific questions and gathering their results.
Below are the results from the voting that took place for the 2022-23 NBA Defensive Player of the Year award:
Media Members Pick To Win Defensive Player of the Year:
Rudy Gobert - Minnesota Timberwolves
This ended up being an extremely close vote and it makes sense as to why this would be. There are a ton of very strong defenders in the NBA today and last season alone, 34 different players received consideration for the All-Defensive teams.
Rudy Gobert has been and very likely still is the best shot-blocking big man in the league and after averaging 2.1 blocks per game with the Utah Jazz last season, Gobert has now recorded at least 2.0 blocks per game in eight consecutive seasons. Now with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Gobert has a chance to continue being a menace on the defensive-end of the floor, especially alongside Karl-Anthony Towns.
Just one of four players in NBA history to have won the Defensive Player of the Year award three times in his career, Gobert would join Dikembe Mutombo and Ben Wallace as the only four-time winners in league history should he be able to once again claim the award during the 2022-23 season.
While no love was given to reigning DPOY Marcus Smart in the preseason media poll, a lot of love was given to Milwaukee Bucks two-time MVP and former 2019-20 Defensive Player of the Year Giannis Antetokounmpo. Receiving four votes, Giannis finished second in the voting and it is not hard to believe that he is the best two-way basketball player in the entire world.
Antetokounmpo is just one of three players in league history to have won the MVP and DPOY award in the same season, the other two being Michael Jordan and Hakeem Olajuwon, two players who are heavily regarded as two of the greatest players in league history. Having another MVP-like and DPOY-like season could very much put Giannis Antetokounmpo in the conversation for the greatest player of all-time.
Draymond Green (Golden State Warriors) and Bam Adebayo (Miami Heat) finished tied for third in the preseason vote and both players ended up earning All-Defensive Second Team honors last season. Prior to getting injured, Green was the favorite for the 2021-22 Defensive Player of the Year award and Bam Adebayo has been on record multiple times stating that he feels that he should have won the award.
Boston Celtics big man Robert Williams III was the only other player to receive more than one vote for this award ahead of the start of the season, as he received two total votes. Williams has quickly turned himself into one of the league’s best shot-blockers and was a key reason why the Celtics defense was able to propel them to the 2022 NBA Finals.
Herbert Jones (New Orleans Pelicans), Ben Simmons (Brooklyn Nets), Kawhi Leonard (Los Angeles Clippers) and Myles Turner (Indiana Pacers) all received one vote each for Defensive Player of the Year, as they are all some of the better defenders in the league when healthy.
Defense wins championships and two of the last three recipients of this award were able to help take their team to the NBA Finals. Will the same happen again this year?
Complete voting results from 2022-23 NBA Preseason Media Poll:
- 2022-23 NBA Preseason Most Valuable Player
- 2022-23 NBA Preseason Rookie of the Year
- 2022-23 NBA Preseason Most Improved Player
- 2022-23 NBA Preseason Sixth-Man of the Year
- 2022-23 NBA Preseason Coach of the Year
- 2022-23 NBA Preseason Defensive Player of the Year
- Who Will Finish With The Worst Regular Season Record?
- Who Will Finish With The Best Regular Season Record?
- Which Team Will Win The Eastern Conference?
- Which Team Will Win The Western Conference?
- Which Team Will Win The 2023 NBA Finals?
- Who Is Most Likely To Be A First-Time All-Star During The 2022-23 NBA Season?
