(Photo by Jeenah Moon/Getty Images)
Some say defense is a lost art in the NBA, and truth be told, it’s hard to argue with that statement.
Nonetheless, there are still some players who refuse to let great defensive performances and hard defensive commitment die, and for them, we’re thankful.
However, that’s why we always have the same two or three candidates to take home the Defensive Player of the Year distinction.
With that in mind, it wasn’t much of a surprise to see ESPN BET report that, once again, Victor Wembanyama is the odds-on favorite to win the award, boasting -130 odds.
Who do you see winning DPOY next season? pic.twitter.com/ROpRdDawnc
— ESPN BET (@ESPNBet) July 15, 2024
The reigning NBA Rookie of the Year was the most spectacular and impactful individual defender in the game by a big margin, but his team’s struggles eventually flipped the script in favor of Rudy Gobert.
Gobert is now the second-leading candidate to win the distinction again.
Should that happen, Gobert would become the winningest player in the history of the award, as he’s currently tied with Ben Wallace and Dikembe Mutombo with four.
And while some might state he’s never been at the same level as those two, it might also be a reflection of how much the league has changed throughout the course of the years.
Other guys like Chet Holmgren, Bam Adebayo, Jaren Jackson Jr., Anthony Davis, Evan Mobley, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jonathan Isaac, and Alex Caruso are also early candidates to win the whole thing, but it seems like it’ll be very difficult for any player to convince voters that Wembanyama isn’t the obvious choice.
The post Odds Show A Clear Favorite To Win NBA’s DPOY Next Season appeared first on The Cold Wire.