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As the Golden State Warriors' chances of making the playoffs have increased since Jimmy Butler arrived at the trade deadline, so has Draymond Green's chances of winning the Defensive Player of the Year award. Butler has given Golden State new life during the second half of the season, boosting this organization's chances of winning another championship. In doing so, Green is now the favorite for the DPOY award.
Regardless of how you feel about Green, there is no denying that he has been one of the best defensive players of this generation.
Aside from winning the Defensive Player of the Year award in 2017, Green has also been named to the All-Defensive team eight times in what has been a Hall of Fame career. This season will mark the ninth time in Draymond's career that he's made this list, making him the 12th player in NBA history to achieve such a feat.
When discussing his chances of winning the Defensive Player of the Year award again on The Draymond Green Show with Baron Davis, Green wanted to give Butler all the credit regarding why he is the frontrunner for DPOY.
“To just have the opportunity to put my name in the hat to compete for (it) is everything. It's extremely motivating. These opportunities don't come around all the time, and I felt like all year I was having a First-Team All-Defensive caliber type of year all year anyway,” Green told Davis. “We had a top-10 defense all year, and with Jimmy coming in, our defense has gotten even better. Our defense has actually been the number one, number two defense in the league since Jimmy’s been here.
“So, with that being said, to know that—like, ‘Yo, I can really make a push for this thing’ —it’s been extremely motivating. Just going into these games, having that added factor of like, ‘Yo, I really want to accomplish this,’ it’s like I need to lock in and focus on the task at hand. It’s motivated the hell out of me.”
Since Butler's first game with the team, the Warriors have gone 21-6 overall and have flown up the Western Conference standings. In this span, the Dubs rank second in defensive rating (109.4), trailing only the Toronto Raptors (109.1) for the best mark in the league.
Once perceived as a play-in tournament team in the Western Conference, Golden State is now competing for home-court advantage in a first-round series over the final four games of the regular season.
Jimmy Butler created a new sense of belief in Golden State. As a result, Draymond Green continues to elevate his play on defense and has his eyes set on the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year award.
“To even be in the running at this point in my career—I’m grateful, man. I’m grateful. I’m grateful for my health, to be healthy enough to compete at this level still.
“I’m going to keep making my case.”
