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2016-17 NBA Awards Season: Top 10 Defensive Player Of The Year Candidates

By Gerald Bourguet

Apr 10, 2017; Oakland, CA, USA; Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert (27) passes the ball out against Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (23) during the first quarter at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 10, 2017; Oakland, CA, USA; Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert (27) passes the ball out against Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (23) during the first quarter at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports /
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Defensive Player Of The Year
Apr 10, 2017; Oakland, CA, USA; Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert (27) passes the ball out against Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (23) during the first quarter at Oracle Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports /

With the 2016-17 NBA regular season over, it’s time to review the top candidates for awards season. Here are the top 10 Defensive Player of the Year candidates.

The 2016-17 NBA regular season is over and the 2017 NBA Playoffs are already underway. But even with the postseason getting started, there’s still one thing that needs to be taken care of: NBA awards season!

Though a Golden State Warriors-Cleveland Cavaliers Finals battle seems inevitable for the third straight year, basketball fans were treated to a truly exceptional regular season.

From one of the greatest MVP races ever to the year of the triple-double, there were plenty of awe-inspiring performances and juicy story lines for NBA fans to digest this season. Unfortunately, that also makes it much harder to decide between all the candidates for award season.

With the regular season over, it’s time to review the top candidates for each individual award and reveal our picks for Coach of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Most Improved Player, Sixth Man of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and MVP.

We’ve already covered Coach of the Year candidates, the top 10 for Rookie of the Year, the best Most Improved Player of the Year options, and the Sixth Man of the Year frontrunners, so today we’ll be moving on to the 2016-17 Defensive Player of the Year Award. Here are the top 10 candidates.

Honorable Mentions:  Danny Green, Kevin Durant, DeAndre Jordan, Robert Covington, Jimmy Butler, Dwight Howard, Avery Bradley, Hassan Whiteside, Ricky Rubio, Marcus Smart, P.J. Tucker, Jae Crowder, Steven Adams