NBA award voters have long given Anthony Davis the short end of the stick when it comes to Defensive Player of the Year, but Sunday might have been a new low even then.
In a change from recent seasons, the league announced three finalists for each of the seven major awards, including Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY). While it was already a longshot for AD to be named winner, the shock came in him not even being named a finalist.
Rudy Gobert, the presumptive winner, Victor Wembanyama and Bam Adebayo were named the finalists, leaving AD on the outside looking in.
Davis is still vying for his first DPOY award of his career despite long being considered one of the league’s best defenders. Davis has spoken about his desire for the award — and head coach Darvin Ham has backed his center for the award— while also acknowledging how fickle the voting for the award has been.
This year wasn’t going to be the year he broke the drought anyway, though that was made crystal clear on Sunday. While it’s not official tallies, voters who have shared their ballots publicly did not list AD as the winner and had Gobert and Wemby as the only winners.
There’s not really a good way to compare these three players statistically, which is why it’s been so difficult for voters to get the award right.
For example, of these three, Wemby averages the most stocks—combined blocks and steals. Gobert, in fact, is last statistically. However, as has long been a determining factor, Gobert’s team is the best defensive team of the group.
This shouldn’t diminish AD’s defensive acumen. He is a dominant rim protector and a more-than-capable perimeter defender. Given his responsibility on the defensive end for the Lakers, no one performs at the level he does.
The best case for AD to be DPOY is for voters to look at games the Lakers played without Davis and how awful they were defensively.
It was already frustrating that he wasn’t going to really even be in contention to win the award, but it’s a joke he isn’t even a finalist. Still, he’s one of the league’s elite on the defensive end and deserves praise.
Hats off to AD. Here’s to the league eventually coming to its senses and him eventually winning a rightful DPOY award.
