NBA 2024-25 midseason Defensive Player of the Year: Victor Wembanyama

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We’ve reached the midpoint of an NBA season that has been filled with injuries to top players — Luka Doncic and Joel Embiid already have missed too many games to qualify for end-of-season awards — and plenty of surprises, like the Cleveland Cavaliers atop the East and the fast rise of the Houston Rockets in the West. The midpoint also means it’s time to take stock of the NBA postseason awards. All week long, I will make my picks for some of the NBA’s top awards at this point in the season. Today: Defensive Player Of the Year.

NBA DPOY: Victor Wembanyama

2. Evan Mobley
3. Ivica Zubac

This is a no-brainer.

That is with all due respect to the others on this list and a few just off it, Wembanyama is clearly the most impactful and best defender in the league. It’s not just the 3.9 blocks a game that put him at the top of the list (although it is 1.4 more a game than second-place Walker Kessler), it’s how he changes everything on the defensive end of the court. Take last night’s Spurs win over the Lakers, where he had “just” two blocks — one on a Dalton Knecht corner 3. There were two times in the game where a Lakers player drove past a close-out into the lane with the intention of scoring at the rim or putting up a floater, only to have to stop, pivot, and kick the ball back out because there was no way he could make a play (Dorian Finney-Smith once, Gabe Vincent once). This happens every game.

He just changes everything on the court with his defense.

When Wembanyama is on the court, the Spurs have a top-six defense in the league, despite having some players opponents clearly target. When he is off the court, that rapidly falls to the 24th-ranked defense (overall that leaves the Spurs 12th in the league defensively, in the middle of the pack).

Evan Mobley has deservedly received a lot of praise this season for his improved play and aggressiveness on offense, but he has always been an elite defensive big — and with the freedom to roam a little thanks to Jarrett Allen, Mobley has been a force this season. The Cavaliers have a top-10 defense behind him, although one could make the case Allen deserves as much credit…

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Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba-2024-25-midseason-defensive-203314644.html

Author : NBC Sports

Publish date : 2025-01-14 20:33:00

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