NBA Defensive Player of the Year Ladder 3.0: Rudy Gobert, Kawhi Leonard breaking away
By Phil Watson
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While LeBron James would become the oldest player named NBA Defensive Player of the Year were he to win it in 2019-20, Boston Celtics forward Jayson Tatum would become the youngest.
Dwight Howard of the Orlando Magic was 23 years, 128 days old at the end of the 2008-09 season before winning the first of his three NBA Defensive Player of the Year awards, slightly younger than Alvin Robertson of the San Antonio Spurs in 1985-86 (23 years, 265 days) and San Antonio’s Kawhi Leonard in 2014-15 (23 years, 290 days).
Tatum won’t be 22 until March 3, although he is in his third NBA season, whereas Robertson was in his second year when he was named DPOY in 1985-86.
Tatum isn’t among the league leaders in steals or blocks, either, but he is second among qualifiers for this ladder in ESPN’s Defensive Real Plus-Minus at plus-4.03 — trailing only the plus-4.78 of LeBron James. He is also eighth in Luck Adjusted Real Adjusted Plus-Minus according to NBA Shot Charts
Kris Dunn of the Chicago Bulls has a DRPM of plus-4.11, but has not played the necessary 27 minutes per game; the fewest by a DPOY winner was Michael Cooper‘s 27.5 in 1986-87.
Tatum had a massive all-around game on Wednesday as the Celtics beat the Magic at TD Garden, getting three steals and two blocks to go with 33 points, eight rebounds and five assists.
In 10 games since the last DPOY Ladder was published, Tatum has 16 steals and nine blocks and for the season is averaging 1.4 thefts and 0.9 steals a night. He was a big reason why the Celtics posted the third-best defensive rating in the NBA over the last four weeks at 106.9. Boston is third in the NBA for the season at 105.3 as well.