With the NBA Playoffs set to begin Saturday, the league will start announcing individual awards over the next several weeks.
Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the heavy favorite to win MVP, Lu Dort is in the Defensive Player of the Year mix and reigning Coach of the Year Mark Daigneault is likely to receive votes for the award once again.
Here’s how The Oklahoman’s Joel Lorenzi, Justin Martinez and Joe Mussatto would vote if they had a ballot.
NBA Defensive Player of the Year
Joel Lorenzi, Thunder beat writer
This is about as uneasy as I’ve felt on any award in some time. Blame the league’s recent changes in requirements for that. Victor Wembanyama, even with his threshold of games, probably still deserved the award.
Historically, I lean toward rim protectors. I’m not a defender of all of Rudy Gobert’s wins, but I’ll defend most of them. Mobley’s versatility is enticing, and it’ll certainly make him a candidate for years. But with an usual race comes unusual metrics and rules. I don’t see a reason not to reward the best eligible Thunder defender, who isn’t far off from being the best defender on one of the best defenses of all time.
There’s a larger conversation to be had about the impact of smalls versus bigs, and about splitting the award to cater to those nuances. But Dort is consistently limiting the league’s best creators, either with their shot selection or decision making or by blowing up actions.
I don’t want to invest in too many hypotheticals, but Dort’s public perception would almost certainly be more favorable if he played for a team that needed his services more than the Thunder do. None of that should strip him of what he’s been: the most impactful (and eligible) guard defender this time around. He set the foundation — without Chet Holmgren behind him for the majority of the season — and tone for maybe the best regular defense ever.
Justin Martinez, sports trending reporter
I mostly went off the eye test for this award and landed on Evan Mobley, a 6-foot-11 big man who can defend around both the rim and the perimeter. That versatility has been a game changer defensively for Cleveland, which is a legitimate title contender. Lu Dort also received consideration as a player whose defensive impact isn’t fully shown by stats. And at the age of 35, Draymond Green’s stellar play shouldn’t go unnoticed either.
Joe Mussatto, columnist
This is often the hardest award to pick, and yet it would have been so easy had Victor Wembanyama stayed healthy. I typically favor bigs over guards in DPOY voting, but this was a weird year. Dort is the best defensive player on the best defense in the NBA. He takes on the toughest assignment every night, routinely making the best players in the world look absolutely miserable.
