Jazz news: Rudy Gobert speaks out on possibly joining Dwight Howard with 3 straight DPOY awards

If Jazz center Rudy Gobert wins the 2020 DPOY Award, he'll join Dwight Howard as the only two players in NBA history to win the award three straight years.

If Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert wins Defensive Player of the Year in 2020, he'll join Dwight Howard as the only players in NBA history to win the award three straight years.

Howard won Defensive Player of the Year with the Orlando Magic in 2009, 2010 and 2011. Gobert won the trophy in 2018 and 2019. The Jazz big man spoke about the possibility of joining Howard with three straight Defensive Player of the Year honors with the media on Monday:

Jazz center Rudy Gobert's blocks are slightly down this year (2.3 each of the last 2 seasons, 2.0 this year), but he still leads the league in Defensive Real Plus-Minus. He's finished 1st in this category the last 3 seasons. “I think every year is different,” Gobert said. pic.twitter.com/FwmwIfz7mh

— Eric Woodyard (@E_Woodyard) July 20, 2020

Before the 2019-20 season was suspended in March, Gobert was averaging 15.1 points, 13.7 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 2.0 blocks per game for the Jazz while shooting 69.8 percent from the field. He was second in the NBA in total blocks (639), fourth in rebounds per game, third in total rebounds (850) and sixth in blocks per contest.

Many NBA pundits believe this award will come down to Gobert, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Anthony Davis. Antetokounmpo and Davis have the advantage of being on the league's two best teams, but don't count Gobert out.

While Gobert will be disappointed if he doesn't win the award again this year, the “Stifle Tower” has bigger fish to fry in Orlando. The Jazz are trying to make a run at the 2020 championship, but they'll first have to come out of the rugged Western Conference.

As it stands, Utah is in fourth place in the West. The Jazz will not have key scorer Bojan Bogdanovic due to an injury, and Gobert will also be working on his relationship with Donovan Mitchell. The two beefed a bit after they were the first two players to test positive for COVID-19.

For the eight seeding games, the Jazz will face the New Orleans Pelicans, Oklahoma City Thunder, Los Angeles Lakers, Memphis Grizzlies, San Antonio Spurs (twice), Denver Nuggets and Dallas Mavericks.