Gobert wins 3rd career Defensive Player of the Year award
Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert was named the 2020-21 NBA Defensive Player of the Year, the team announced Wednesday.
The Frenchman becomes the fourth player in NBA history to capture the honor three times and edged out the Philadelphia 76ers' Ben Simmons and the Golden State Warriors' Draymond Green for this year's award.
"I have an organization, a coaching staff, my teammates that all believe in me every single night and I give them that confidence back and we do it together," Gobert said in a statement.
Gobert's teammates presented him with the trophy in the team's locker room Wednesday.
Here's how the voting broke down.
| Player | Team | 1st Place | 2nd | 3rd | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| R. Gobert | UTA | 84 | 14 | 2 | 464 |
| B. Simmons | PHI | 15 | 67 | 11 | 287 |
| D. Green | GSW | 0 | 13 | 37 | 76 |
| B. Adebayo | MIA | 1 | 3 | 17 | 31 |
| G. Antetokounmpo | MIL | 0 | 0 | 12 | 12 |
Clint Capela, Joel Embiid, Jrue Holiday, Myles Turner, Jimmy Butler, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and Matisse Thybulle also received down-ballot votes.
Gobert averaged 14.3 points on an NBA-leading 67.5% shooting over 71 appearances this season. He also ranked second in the Association in both rebounds (13.5 per game) and blocks (2.7).
The two-time All-Star limited opponents to 41.9% shooting on a league-leading 19.1 defended field-goal attempts per game in 2020-21.
Only Brook Lopez of the Milwaukee Bucks contested more shots per contest than Gobert.