The first of this year’s NBA Awards was handed out on Monday night, with the league announcing Memphis Grizzlies forward Jaren Jackson Jr. as this year’s Defensive Player of the Year. Jackson took home the award with 56 first place votes over finalists Brook Lopez and Evan Mobley.
The young Grizzlies star boasted a league-leading 3.0 blocks per game (and 1.0 steals) in his 63 appearances for Memphis, also leading the league in block rate (9.6 percent). Jackson was also near the top of most every advanced metric, finishing in the top-1o in Defensive Box Plus/Minus, Defensive Win Shares, and Defensive Rating, per Basketball-Reference. All told, his defensive impact was spectacular for the Grizzlies, and his play on that end was a considerable reason they ended up as the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference.
There were cases to be made for all three finalists, with each finishing higher than the other in various metrics, but Jackson’s defensive prowess is unquestionable. The biggest knock on his campaign was games played, as under the upcoming CBA he wouldn’t be eligible after playing in fewer than 65 games, while Lopez and Mobley appeared in more games. Still, his play when he was healthy was so spectacular that voters, who always factor in games played, still found him deserving of the award.
