Milwaukee Bucks bigs climb NBA Defensive Player of the Year Ladder 4.0

When it comes to Giannis Antetokpounmpo and his defensive prowess, it’s sometimes easy to get so caught up in everything else he does on the floor for the Milwaukee Bucks that his work at that end of the court can fade into the background.

But he’s very good as a defender with his length, timing, athleticism and the strength he’s added after coming into the NBA at 196 pounds on draft night to the sturdy 242 pounds at which he is currently listed.

Of players who have contested at least 2.5 shots inside of six feet, Antetokounmpo leads the NBA with a defensive field goal percentage of just 41.3 percent on 3.6 attempts per game. He’s third in the NBA in Defensive Real Plus-Minus, first in Luck Adjusted Real Adjusted Plus-Minus (a convoluted title for a handy metric from NBAShotCharts) and tied for fifth in defensive RAPTOR.

On the play below, Antetokounmpo uses that wingspan to strip the ball away from Indiana’s Myles Turner after inviting Turner to take the baseline.

On the conventional side of the ledger, Antetokounmpo is averaging 1.0 blocks and 1.0 steals in 30.8 minutes per game, his lowest totals since becoming a full-time starter. But some of that ends up being similar to a lock-down cornerback in football — keep proving you can shut people down and eventually they try other ways to score without going through you.