Defensive Player of the Year – Rudy Gobert
This is yet another hotly contested award category where it’s anybody’s guess who will come out on top. However, I’m going to predict that Rudy Gobert will ultimately get the long overdue nod as the best defensive player of the 2017-18 season.
If Gobert had been healthy for all 82 games this season and maintained his same defensive prowess during that time, he would be the runaway winner. However, the biggest obstacle he has to claiming the recognition is the fact that he missed 26 games this year.
Typically, being absent for that significant of a chunk of the year would essentially take a player out of the running for an end of season award, but that just shows how dominant Utah was when Rudy was on the floor. Particularly in the latter part of the season, he was instrumental in leading Utah’s incredible run and locking down their defense.
Joel Embiid and Anthony Davis are both worthy candidates as well. And if Gobert had missed the entire season, I would have been in agreement with either one of them coming out on top. However, missed games didn’t stop Gobert from earning All-NBA Defensive First Team honors, and I don’t think they’ll stop him from winning Defensive Player of the Year.