Minnesota Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert has officially been named the 2023-24 NBA Defensive Player of the Year award recipient, the league announced on Tuesday night. After beating out San Antonio Spurs rookie Victor Wembanyama and Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo, Gobert has claimed his fourth Defensive Player of the Year award, tying Dikembe Mutombo and Ben Wallace for the most in league history.
Gobert, who struggled to find his rhythm in his first season with the Timberwolves, put together a massive 2023-24 campaign. Although Wembanyama led the league in blocked shots, Gobert finished sixth in this category, while finishing first in defensive win shares and individual defensive rating. The Timberwolves finished the regular season with the best defensive rating in the league, and Gobert was the anchor of their top-rated defense.
This is the second award a player from Minnesota has won this season, as Naz Reid was recently named the 2023-24 NBA Sixth Man of the Year over Sacramento Kings guard Malik Monk. The Timberwolves went 56-26 this season and find themselves in the Western Conference Semifinals against the defending champion Denver Nuggets.
In regards to claiming another Defensive Player of the Year award, this should be very reassuring for Gobert, seeing as he felt disrespected by voters over the last few years.
“I believe there were two years I deserved to win it that I didn’t get it,” Gobert told Steve Aschburner of NBA.com earlier this season. “I don’t want to take away anything from anybody else, but I think one was because the voters were maybe tired of me.”
After being named the league's Defensive Player of the Year during the 2017-18 and 2018-19 seasons with the Utah Jazz, Gobert won the award for the third time during the 2020-21 season. He finished third in the voting during the 2021-22 season, and Gobert did not crack the top of the ballot during the 2022-23 season.
Rudy Gobert's Defensive Player of the Year campaign
When the Timberwolves sacrificed a ton of assets to acquire Gobert in 2022, many thought they were crazy. Minnesota missed the playoffs during his first season with the team, which is why the Gobert trade was viewed as a major failure at first. Now, after getting acclimated to his new team and teammates, Gobert has reclaimed his mantle as one of the best defensive players the league has ever seen.
The 76 games the Timberwolves big man played this season were the most he's played since the 2018-19 season in Utah. Gobert averaged 14.0 points, 12.9 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks per game while shooting 66.1 percent from the floor. As the anchor of the Wolves' defense, Gobert helped set the tone for what has become a deadly defensive unit.
It is not a coincidence that they swept the offensive-minded Phoenix Suns in the first round of the playoffs, and now own the early edge over the Nuggets in the Western Conference Semifinals. Should the Timberwolves continue their playoff journey and upset the Nuggets, it will be in large part because of their defense and Gobert's efforts in the paint.
Gobert finished the regular season leading virtually every single individual defensive category. Although Wembanyama had the edge over him in blocks, Gobert once again asserted his dominance by impacting the decision-making of his opponents on a nightly basis. It shouldn't come as a shock to see the best defensive player on the best defensive team in the league win the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year award.
After claiming this award, Gobert will most certainly be named to the All-Defensive First Team when that list is announced later in the postseason. Should he be selected for the All-Defensive First Team, that will mark the seventh time in Gobert's career that he has earned such a distinction.
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