Just a month after saying Victor Wembanyama shouldn’t win the 2024 NBA Defensive Player of the Year award, Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green has changed his stance. In a recent episode of his podcast, The Draymond Green Show, the former NBA Defensive Player of the Year said the San Antonio Spurs rookie deserves the honor:
I know I said on here a little while back, Wemby shouldn’t be the Defensive Player of The Year. I lied. Wemby should be the Defensive Player of The Year because he is that amazing defensively. The way he impacts the game on the defensive end, whether it’s off the ball, on the ball, it’s a problem.
Currently, the betting favorite for the 2024 NBA Defensive Player of the Award is Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert (-800). Wembanyama (+650) is right below him in the betting odds, however.
Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving also recently spoke about Wembanyama possibly winning the award this season:
“I don’t know who they’re going to pick,” Irving said after the Mavericks’ hard-won 113-107 victory over the Spurs on Tuesday, “but he has all the tools to be named Defensive Player of the Year.”
This season, Wembanyama leads the league in blocks per game, averaging 3.5. Additionally, the French native is averaging 1.3 steals per game and has an individual Defensive Rating of 106.4, which is second-best to Gobert. Wembanyama has also come close to recording the league’s first quadruple-double since 1994 multiple times this season. Most recently, Webanyama recorded 23 points, 15 rebounds, 8 assists, and 9 blocks against Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets.
Draymond Green Flip-Flops on NBA DPOY Race, Reveals His Pick
Draymond Green’s Initial Comments on Victor Wembanyama
Early in March, Green was open about his pick for the award being Gobert. Green cited the Spurs’ poor team defense in comparison to the Timberwolves’ elite team defense as the biggest motive behind his pick:
He’ll have these numbers and he’ll have opportunities to win Defensive Player of the Years. I personally don’t think that is this year. Even if [Minnesota Timberwolves center] Rudy Gobert wasn’t having the year that he’s having and their team wasn’t having the season that they’re having, I still don’t think you can give that award to somebody who’s on the 24th-best defense in the league.
With around two weeks remaining in the season, Minnesota still possesses the best Team Defensive Rating in the league. On the flip side, the Spurs sit at No. 22. Although Green originally believed Wembanyama didn’t deserve the Defensive Player of the Year award, he has already deemed him “a top-20 player in the NBA right now.”
The Last Word
A Defensive Player of the Year award for Wembanyama seems inevitable. However, it’s tough to predict whether it will happen this season to not. Wembanyama is a lock for Rookie of the Year and looks like he belongs in the NBA. There seems to be no ceiling for the 20-year-old, and he will probably only get better as his career progresses.
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