The French derby for the prize of Defensive Player of the Year of the 2023-24 season was won by Rudy Gobert. The Minnesota Timberwolves center, currently playing in the Conference Semifinals against Denver, won his 4th career Defensive Player of the Year, finishing ahead of compatriot Victor Wembanyama.
Gobert finished the season ranked third in Minnesota and held on 14.0 points, 12.9 rebounds, 2.1 blocks and 0.7 steals per game. The blocks and recoveries data are lower than those of Wemby, but the impact that Gobert has on the defense of his entire team certainly played a role in the choice. The Timberwolves in fact finished the regular season in first place for Defensive Rating (109.0 average points conceded per 100 possessions). When the Frenchman was on the pitch, this figure dropped to 104.4 points conceded.
Rudy Gobert thus became the third player in NBA history to win Defensive Player of the Year 4 timesafter Dikembe Mutombo and Ben Wallace.
In the voting, the match against Wembanyama wasn’t even too balanced: the Spurs phenomenon, who had won the Rookie of the Year a few hours earlier, in fact obtained 245 points against Gobert’s 433. Bam Adebayo was third with 91, while the fact that Domantas Sabonis was also among the players who received a preference (even if only for third place) made many fans smile. https://twitter.com/NBAPR/status/1787975882721673472.
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