For the third time in the last four seasons, Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert was named the NBA Defensive Player of the Year. Of course defense has been the calling card for the Los Angeles Lakers under Frank Vogel for the past two seasons, and the team again had the best defensive rating in the NBA.
With Anthony Davis injured for much of the season, the Lakers’ defensive impact was more of a team effort without an individual standout, but that doesn’t mean some players don’t deserve recognition and that was the case for starting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.