– French Center Becomes Fourth Player to Earn Honor Three or More Times –
Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert has been named the 2020-21 Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year, the NBA announced today.
This marks the third NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award for Gobert, who also earned the honor in the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons. The 7-1 French native is the fourth player to win the award at least three times, joining Dikembe Mutombo (four), Ben Wallace (four) and Dwight Howard (three).
Gobert received 84 first-place votes and earned 464 points from a global panel of 100 sportswriters and broadcasters. Philadelphia 76ers guard Ben Simmons finished in second place with 287 points (15 first-place votes). Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green, the 2016-17 Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year, finished in third place with 76 points. Players were awarded five points for each first-place vote, three points for each second-place vote and one point for each third-place vote.
In his eighth NBA season, Gobert led the league in defensive rebounds per game (10.1), total defensive rebounds (720) and total blocked shots (190) and ranked second in blocked shots per game (2.70). He recorded six games with least 15 defensive rebounds and eight games with five or more blocks. Gobert grabbed a season-high 20 defensive rebounds against the Warriors on March 14 and blocked a career-high nine shots against the Chicago Bulls on March 22.
According to NBA Advanced Stats, Gobert ranked second in the NBA in defensive win shares, which measures a player’s defensive impact on winning. He defended the most field goal attempts at the rim in the NBA (549) and held opponents to 50.1 percent shooting on those shots, the third-lowest mark among the 27 players who defended at least 300 shots at the rim this season.
Behind Gobert, Utah finished third in the NBA in defensive rating (107.5) and second in opponents’ field goal percentage (44.7). The strong defense helped propel the Jazz to a league-leading 52-20 record and the top seed in the Western Conference for the 2021 NBA Playoffs.
Selected as an NBA All-Star for the second time, Gobert averaged 14.3 points and 13.5 rebounds in 71 games this season. Gobert led the NBA in total rebounds (960) and ranked second in rebounds per game. He also shot an NBA-high 67.5 percent from the field, leading the league in that category for the second time in the last three seasons.
Gobert, the 27th overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, has career averages of 12.0 points, 11.3 rebounds and 2.24 blocks in 545 games, all with the Jazz. He was voted to the NBA All-Defensive First Team in each of the previous four seasons.
| VOTING RESULTS: 2020-21 KIA NBA DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR AWARD | |||||||||
| Player (Team) | 1st Place Votes (5 Points) | 2nd Place Votes (3 Points) | 3rd Place Votes (1 Point) | Total Points | |||||
| Rudy Gobert (Utah) | 84 | 14 | 2 | 464 | |||||
| Ben Simmons (Philadelphia) | 15 | 67 | 11 | 287 | |||||
| Draymond Green (Golden State) | 0 | 13 | 37 | 76 | |||||
| Bam Adebayo (Miami) | 1 | 3 | 17 | 31 | |||||
| Giannis Antetokounmpo (Milwaukee) | 0 | 0 | 12 | 12 | |||||
| Clint Capela (Atlanta) | 0 | 1 | 7 | 10 | |||||
| Joel Embiid (Philadelphia) | 0 | 2 | 1 | 7 | |||||
| Jrue Holiday (Milwaukee) | 0 | 0 | 6 | 6 | |||||
| Myles Turner (Indiana) | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | |||||
| Jimmy Butler (Miami) | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | |||||
| Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (Los Angeles Lakers) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | |||||
| Matisse Thybulle (Philadelphia) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 |
Below is the list of winners of the Kia NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award.
| KIA NBA DEFENSIVE PLAYER OF THE YEAR WINNERS | ||||
| 1982-83 – Sidney Moncrief, Milwaukee1983-84 – Sidney Moncrief, Milwaukee1984-85 – Mark Eaton, Utah1985-86 – Alvin Robertson, San Antonio1986-87 – Michael Cooper, L.A. Lakers1987-88 – Michael Jordan, Chicago1988-89 – Mark Eaton, Utah1989-90 – Dennis Rodman, Detroit1990-91 – Dennis Rodman, Detroit1991-92 – David Robinson, San Antonio1992-93 – Hakeem Olajuwon, Houston1993-94 – Hakeem Olajuwon, Houston1994-95 – Dikembe Mutombo, Denver | 1995-96 – Gary Payton, Seattle1996-97 – Dikembe Mutombo, Atlanta1997-98 – Dikembe Mutombo, Atlanta1998-99 – Alonzo Mourning, Miami1999-00 – Alonzo Mourning, Miami2000-01 – Dikembe Mutombo, Philadelphia2001-02 – Ben Wallace, Detroit2002-03 – Ben Wallace, Detroit2003-04 – Metta World Peace, Indiana2004-05 – Ben Wallace, Detroit2005-06 – Ben Wallace, Detroit2006-07 – Marcus Camby, Denver2007-08 – Kevin Garnett, Boston | 2008-09 – Dwight Howard, Orlando2009-10 – Dwight Howard, Orlando2010-11 – Dwight Howard, Orlando2011-12 – Tyson Chandler, New York2012-13 – Marc Gasol, Memphis2013-14 – Joakim Noah, Chicago2014-15 – Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio2015-16 – Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio2016-17 – Draymond Green, Golden State2017-18 – Rudy Gobert, Utah2018-19 – Rudy Gobert, Utah2019-20 – Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee2020-21 – Rudy Gobert, Utah |
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