Sleeper candidates for each of the NBA Awards in 2022-23

NBA Awards Sleeper: Raptors’ OG Anunoby for Defensive Player of the Year

Serious question: would you rather be defended by OG Anunoby for a full 48 minutes or enter a three-minute cage match with a wildebeest? I might lean toward the cage match, to be honest.

Toronto is off to an incredible start due in large part to the contributions of its 6-foot-8 starting forward, who is doing his best to assert himself as an all-world defender once more. Anunoby is averaging more than three steals per game and a tick under a block while legitimately smothering everyone who’s tasked with playing against him.

Dribbling in front of this man is a waste of time. Using his long reach and exceptional timing, Anunoby lunges at the basketball and disrupts dribble chains, oftentimes resulting in a turnover for his team. You also should be surprised to see him sprinting as fast as he can to force a block, steal, or simply deter a shot whenever his team turns the basketball over.

The level of constant effort he’s exhibiting is exactly the spirit in which the Defensive Player of the Year award was founded. So long as he’s healthy, an All-Defensive Team is a minimum for Anunoby this year and quite frankly, DPOY shouldn’t be farfetched to anyone watching him play.