Rudy Gobert named 2024 NBA Defensive Player of the Year

Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert won the 2024 NBA Defensive Player of the Year award on Tuesday, tying a league record by taking the honor for the fourth time.

The 31-year-old Frenchman previously captured the award in 2018, 2019 and 2021 with the Utah Jazz and was a key player this season on a T-Wolves team that was the NBA’s top-ranked defensive club.

Gobert tied the record for four Defensive Player of the Year awards won by Detroit’s Ben Wallace (2002, 2003, 2005, 2006) and Dikembe Mutombo in 1995, 1997, 1998 and 2001 with Denver, Atlanta and Philadelphia.

The 7-foot-1 star missed Minnesota’s playoff win in Denver on Monday so he could be with his girlfriend Julia Bonilla, who gave birth to their son earlier in the day.

“Romeo is the name and he is doing great,” Gobert told the American NBA telecaster TNT. “Many blessings. Just very grateful.”

Gobert received 72 first-place votes from a media panel with fellow American Victor Wembanyama, the 20-year-old San Antonio Spurs prodigy who was named NBA Rookie of the Year on Monday, second with 19 first-place votes and Miami’s Bam Adebayo third with three.

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Gobert averaged 14.0 points, 12.9 rebounds, 2.1 blocked shots and 1.3 assists per game for the Timberwolves this season.

“Rudy has pushed the defensive culture here,” Timberwolves coach Chris Finch said. “It’s a testament to his impact, his presence and what he brings to the team: how important defense is and how great it can be when we play it.”

Gobert said the secret to that success was building a group of players determined to dominate defensively.

“It’s great teamwork,” Gobert said. “We love getting individual awards and all this stuff, it’s great, but we can’t do it alone and I’m really grateful for… all my teammates who believe in me, allowing me to do what I do best every day and just trying to change the culture here in Minnesota.

“It’s great for the guys to buy in and come with the same mentality every night. We wanted to be a defensive team and we did that.”

The T-Wolves led the NBA in fewest points allowed per game and held foes to the league’s lowest shooting percentage.

Minnesota defeated Phoenix in the first round of the NBA playoffs and led defending champion Denver in their best-of-seven battle, the latter with new dad Gobert watching a blowout victory from home.

“It was incredible,” Gobert said. “As a competitor you always want to be there for those types of games. The guys did their job, and not only did their job, but they did an incredible job defensively and offensively.”

Big things take time

Gobert was traded to Minnesota from Utah in July 2022, became the first T-Wolves player to capture the best defenseman award and said he never doubted Minnesota could compete even after leaving the play -offs from last year in the first round.

“I’ve always said that great things take time. Winning is never something that happens overnight,” Gobert said. “You have to overcome adversity. You have to have some ups and downs as a group and build that resilience.

“This year in training camp on the first day, we said we wanted to be the best defense in this league. Every man worked on his body and everyone worked on it every day.

“Now we are here with one goal in mind and that is to try to win this championship.”

Gobert helped France to Olympic silver in Tokyo and will be a key player for his home country at the Paris Olympics.