https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6277601/2025/04/14/nba-awards-sga-mvp-amen-thompson-rockets-hollinger/?source=athletic_pulsenewsletter&campaign=13188413&userId=6559290 Defensive Player of the Year Amen Thompson, Rockets Evan Mobley, Cavaliers Dyson Daniels, Hawks Ineligible: Anthony Davis, Victor Wembanyama, Kris Dunn, Chet Holmgren, Alex Caruso Thompson’s shutdown of Curry last week got a lot of attention, but I was leaning this way even before Houston suffocated Golden State. Thompson is a vital cog in the league’s fourth-ranked defense, one that pushed a clunky Rockets offense to 52 wins and the second seed in the West. He’s a shapeshifting big/small hybrid who also erases transition opportunities simply by being so freaking fast that it vaporizes numbers advantages. Seriously, some of his recoveries seem superhuman, like film of prime Carl Lewis was spliced into the game tape. While Houston has other strong defenders, Thompson’s nightly impact was palpable. In terms of defensive roles, Thompson is actually two players. He guards the opponents’ best perimeter scorer on many nights (Dillon Brooks takes this role too), but he also doubles as an elite rim protector. Thompson’s 3.6 percent block rate was higher than that of Draymond Green, Ivica Zubac, Antetokounmpo or Jarrett Allen, among others. Only six players in the entire league played at least 2,000 minutes and blocked shots at a higher rate than Thompson, which is amazing, because he was shutting down the perimeter at the same time. Thompson and Daniels, who is third on my ballot, are sooooo much better than the typical perimeter player that I feel they offer a defense a much bigger advantage than almost any elite rim protector could provide. When you go deep on the alphabet soup metrics that are the best approximation we have for the hazy task of accurately measuring defense, the top of the lists are dominated by centers. The board for the LEBRON rating, for instance, lists seven bigs in the top nine players who qualify for this award … along with Thompson and Daniels. Similarly, EPM has five centers in the top seven to go with Thompson and Daniels. As a result, the marginal value of having Mobley or Green or Zubac as your big versus the average center, while still notable, ends up being less than the differential when you place Johnny McMatadorscorer with somebody like Daniels or Thompson. Daniels’ historic season as a turnover-generating deflection machine still hasn’t received the attention it deserves, especially since he’s done it not as a roamer but as a guy who is assigned to the opponent’s top wing scorer every night. As defensive seasons go, it’s one of one. The havoc he causes makes him one of the few defensive players you’ll hear opposing coaches routinely mention as a concern pregame. Less appreciated, perhaps, is that Daniels also offers significant secondary rim protection as a 6-8 shooting guard, and that’s particularly useful on a team with so little primary rim protection. He’s not in Thompson’s league in this regard, but he still blocked shots at a higher rate than Bam Adebayo or Jokić. Has that made Daniels the single most impactful defender in the league? I can’t quite get there. Viscerally, as someone who saw Daniels in person more than most, it never felt like I was watching a dominant all-around defensive performance; he’s off-the-charts awesome in one easily measured category but less spectacular in the others. In a related story, Daniels’ impact stats are surprisingly tame — the Hawks defended just as well this season when he was off the court, and that was the case regardless of whether or not Trae Young was on the court with him. They actually defended better in the five games Daniels missed entirely. In a season where Wembanyama’s injury has left the race in a muddle — nobody has an ironclad case — that certainly leaves Daniels as a strong contender. But I’d argue Thompson and Mobley have slightly more night-to-night impact on the opposition’s offense, especially given Mobley’s ability to toggle between guarding the perimeter and protecting the rim. I should also mention Green here, since his candidacy has become A Cause for some reason, but voters shouldn’t let him podcast his way to the crown this year. He’s again been really good, with an off-the-charts IQ that lets him blow up plays before they start. However, he’s not quite as impenetrable on an island as he was half a decade ago, and as a 6-6 rim protector, he doesn’t quite match the other All-Defense-caliber centers in this regard. Also, Green only played 1,983 minutes — several hundred fewer than most of the other contenders.
I've seen a few people now see through that Draymond bullshit where he basically made himself the favorite by crying about it on his podcast. Nationally televised games make a huge difference, and Amen has shown the world what he can do. He's obviously the best eligible defensive player for this award. Eye test, metrics, whatever. Doesn't matter, he's that guy.
Kevin O'Connor and Tom Haberstroh both said they were voting for Amen for DPOY. Dort is going to get a lot of votes too.
Draymond shouldn’t even be in the conversation with how many solid big men and wings are ahead of him record wise, impact wise etc.
Amen won't get the DPOY award this season but even if he doesn't now, he'll be in the running for years to come.
Honestly smart idea. He saw that won Embiid an undeserved MVP by people crying about it, so figured he'd try it too
My prediction is that Mobley wins it. He's the closest one to being a "heliocentric" defender with Wemby out. Absolutely vital to their defense. Amen will get some votes, but too many of the old school voters will be thinking "he's too young, he will have plenty of opportunities, he hasn't proved it enough/earned it enough yet". Daniels will have the same problem, with the added knocks of his team having a below-average defense and losing record. Dort doesn't have the stock numbers and OKC's defense is going to be perceived as more of a team thing. I don't know where Draymond will fall, but I hope he is disliked enough around the league to be the last of those five, lol.
Amen is going to make a lot of people’s jaws drop during the playoffs. Maybe not DPOY this year but definitely next.
It would be insane work to get DPOY in just his 2nd year, 1st as a starter(not even the entire year). He really is a dominant defensive force.
I have a hunch Draymond's opportunistic media bull-rush created a backlash against him. My wild guess is he won't even make 1st team all-defense.
Everyone who DOESN"T have a vote is voting for Amen Let's hope that translates to the beat and national writers who DO have a vote!
If Amen doesn't get it this year. He may never get it unless Wemby gets injured again. Wemby still doesn't have a DPOY and was running away with it this year. If Wemby is healthy for the next 5 years, he will definitely win at least 3 and possibly 4 of those. Then say Mobley eventually gets one of those. That means maybe 1 is left for guys like the Thompson twins, Daniels, Dort, Dunn, and all the other bigs.
I saw an argument that DPOY needs to shift away from BIGS because there are no more dominant bigs to defends. Big men just drop and/or float coverages. It's the wings that have to guard all the TOP talent in the league now. Let's hope for a shift away from stat padding blocks and rebounds and actually look deeper into defending perimeter players who are now the best players in the league.
Even if that happens, too much of the national media are in love with Wemby and Mobley because they "can switch onto and defend 1-5".
