Kawhi Leonard is the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year. Again.
The 24-year-old Spurs star out-polled Golden State’s Draymond Green to earn honors as the league’s top defensive player for the second year in a row, the NBA announced Monday.
Leonard becomes the first player to win back-to-back Defensive Player of the Year awards since Dwight Howard won three in a row for 2009 to 2011. He is the first non-center to notch consecutive awards since Dennis Rodman in 1990 and 1991.
In his first season as an All-Star, Leonard was the catalyst for a Spurs defense that led the league in fewest points allowed (92.