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2023 NBA Awards: 1 dark horse candidate to win each honor

By Jacob Ellerbee

Timberwolves C Karl-Anthony Towns and 76ers C Joel Embiid (Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports)
Timberwolves C Karl-Anthony Towns and 76ers C Joel Embiid (Bruce Kluckhohn-USA TODAY Sports) /
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Golden State Warriors
Draymond Green, Golden State Warriors (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images) /

NBA Awards: Draymond Green returns to form as Defensive Player of the Year

Rudy Gobert and Giannis Antetokounmpo are annual candidates for this prestigious award that was given to Boston’s Marcus Smart for his efforts during the 2021-22 season. But this year, there’s one dark horse candidate to keep an eye on and that’s Golden State’s Draymond Green. Before you object, hear me out on this one.

The 32-year-old Green is entering a contract year with the Warriors and firmly believes he is worthy of a max contract. During the Warriors’ media day, he admitted that he’s motivated for what could be his last big payday and he’s out to prove he’s worthy of such a deal.

Green was playing great defense before suffering injury setbacks during the regular season for the Warriors. In fact, he was atop the leaderboard rankings in the DPOY race for November and December. Green is out to prove everyone wrong this season. Plus, he and his teammates are looking to push back on the whole championship hangover narrative likely to be peddled anytime they hit a bump in the road.

I’m predicting a healthy, motivated, and aggressive Draymond Green is going to make a serious push for this honor and add to his already impressive hardware collection of NBA Awards. If successful, it’ll be Green’s second time to win DPOY after first earning the honors during the 2016-17 season.