The Defensive Player Of the Year award has raised quite a bit of debate across the season. An award usually won by big men in the current era, with Giannis Antetkounmpo and Rudy Gobert being the recent players to win it, there were more contenders for it than anything else this season. Mikal Bridges, Rudy Gobert, and Marcus Smart made the final shortlist, and the winner was revealed on Monday night.
Gary Payton, the last guard to win the DPOY during the 90s, made his way to the Boston Celtics’ training facility to announce the award and hand it over to Marcus Smart in front of his teammates. The Celtics have been the best regular-season defensive team and a lot of that is down to Smart’s excellent defense on the perimeter. The occasion seemed festive as he celebrated with his team and GP, looking quite emotional when it was happening.
Payton pulled up a tweet Smart had made about how only guards with the initials GP are allowed to win the DPOY award and used that to announce that it wasn’t true since Smart himself is now the 2021-22 DPOY. His teammates showered him with water in celebration and Smart collected the trophy from Payton after everyone had settled down a little.
Since the award came into existence, only 5 guards have ever won it. Sidney Moncrief is the only guard to have won it twice, while Michael Cooper, Alvin Robertson, and Michael Jordan each have 1 to their names. Payton is the only other point guard to have won it, putting Smart in some truly elite company.
He can’t dwell on it for too long, some of the toughest defensive assignments of his career are happening in the current series the Celtics are playing. Having won Game 1 against the Brooklyn Nets, Smart and his teammates have their work cut out for them as they try to take a 2-0 lead against Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
