Rudy Gobert wins record-breaking 4th Defensive Player of the Year award. Victor Wembanyama finishes second – Metro US

Rudy Gobert wrote history. Victor Wembanyama almost did it.

Gobert, the Minnesota center, was named the NBA Defensive Player of the Year for the fourth time on Tuesday, joining Basketball Hall of Fame inductees Dikembe Mutombo and Ben Wallace.

It was the fifth time in the past 11 seasons that a French center has won the defensive player of the year award – and it certainly looks like Wembanyama will soon add to that country’s tally. The rookie center from San Antonio, announced Monday as the league’s Rookie of the Year, finished second in the voting, falling one spot short of being the first player to win the DPOY trophy in Year 1 of his NBA career.

Viva la France indeed. Joakim Noah became the first Frenchman to win DPOY when he was the overwhelming choice in 2014, and Gobert now holds the trophies for 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2024.

“It’s great teamwork,” Gobert, the star defender on a Timberwolves team that had the best defense in the NBA this season, said on TNT during the award announcement. “We love getting individual awards and all this stuff, and it’s great, but you can’t do it alone.”

It’s the ninth time in Gobert’s 11 seasons that he finished seventh or better in the DPOY voting. He finished second in 2017, third in 2020 and 2022, fifth in 2015 and seventh in 2016 – taking the trophy one day after missing a play-off match due to the birth of his son Romeo.

“Many blessings,” Gobert said. “Just very grateful.”

Miami center Bam Adebayo finished third, his best finish ever in the voting. He finished fourth in 2021 and 2022, and fifth in 2020 and 2023.

Adebayo – a 2021 Olympic gold medalist and part of the team USA Basketball selected to play in the Paris Games this summer – is the only player to have ranked in the top five of the DPOY voting in the past five years. He has at least one first-place finish in all five of those seasons, the only player in the NBA who can say that.

Gobert ranked second in rebounds per game and sixth in blocked shots per game – a category in which Wembanyama led the league. The Timberwolves led the NBA in fewest points allowed per game this season. They also held opponents to the lowest field goal percentage.

“This year, at training camp, we came into Day 1 and said we wanted to be a top defense in this league,” Gobert said. “Everyone participated. Everyone has worked hard every day and now we are here with one goal in mind: to try to win this championship.”

Gobert received 72 first-place votes and 97 votes overall from the panel of 99 writers and broadcasters who cover the competition and cast ballots at the end of the regular season for various awards.

Wembanyama received 19 first-place votes and appeared on 81 ballots. Adebayo received three first-place votes but held off Anthony Davis of the Los Angeles Lakers, who had four first-place finishes but finished fourth. Herb Jones of New Orleans was fifth and Jrue Holiday of Boston, who took the other first place, was sixth.

Gobert’s win adds to this year’s accolades for the Timberwolves, who are having their best season in two decades. Minnesota hadn’t won a playoff series since 2004 before beating Phoenix in Round 1, and now holds a 2-0 lead (both road victories) over defending NBA champion Denver in the Western Conference semifinals.

“Great things take time,” Gobert said. “You all know that winning is not something that happens overnight. You have to overcome adversity, you have to go through some ups and downs as a group.”

In other major Timberwolves awards this spring, Naz Reid won Sixth Man of the Year, Mike Conley won the Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year award, Chris Finch finished third in the Coach of the Year voting (won by Mark Daigneault of Oklahoma City), Tim Connelly finished third in the Executive of the Year race (won by Boston’s Brad Stevens) and Anthony Edwards finished eighth in the Clutch Player of the Year voting (won by Golden State’s Stephen Curry).

The winner of the NBA’s top individual prize will be announced on Wednesday.

Three international players – Denver’s Nikola Jokic, Oklahoma City’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Dallas’ Luka Doncic – are the finalists for MVP. Jokic is looking for what would be his third MVP award in the past four seasons, while Gilgeous-Alexander and Doncic aim to win the trophy for the first time.

Philadelphia’s Joel Embiid, last season’s MVP, was ineligible this year because of the league’s new policy that requires players to play a certain number of games before being eligible for most awards.

Other NBA honors yet to be announced include the All-Defensive, All-Rookie and All-NBA teams – which won’t be revealed until next week – and the Social Justice Award winner, which will be announced Thursday to be made.

AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA