Rudy Gobert wins record-breaking 4th Defensive Player of the Year award

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 defender of the year title – 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, told 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.

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 covered the competition and cast ballots as the regular season ended 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 has 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.