The NBA’s awards are getting doled out a bit differently this year. Instead of a huge award show following the conclusion of the year, the league is announcing them throughout the postseason. We already know that Toronto Raptors coach Nick Nurse is the 2019-20 Coach of the Year, and now, we know that the Defensive Player of the Year award will also go to someone in the Eastern Conference.
According to Chris Haynes and Vince Goodwill of Yahoo Sports, the award will go to Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks. The news was soon confirmed on TNT, as Antetokounmpo was joined by his entire team as head coach Mike Budenholzer announced the news and Brook Lopez handed him the trophy.
The Greek Freak is the 2019-20 @NBA Defensive Player of the Year! pic.twitter.com/HPfyMdK7bW
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) August 25, 2020
Antetokounmpo, the reigning league MVP and the favorite to be that award’s repeat winner, received 75 first-place votes. Anthony Davis, who got 12 first-place votes, came in second, while Rudy Gobert came in third.
Ben Simmons finished fourth in DPOY voting, with one first place vote. Full results, with Giannis taking home the award: pic.twitter.com/nRvfZ457XH
— Kyle Neubeck (@KyleNeubeck) August 25, 2020
His ability to guard all five positions, protect the rim, and generally impose his will on that end of the floor makes Antetokounmpo an obvious pick for the award. He joins Kevin Garnett, Michael Jordan, Hakeem Olajuwon, and David Robinson as the only players to win both the MVP and DPOY awards in their careers — and can join Olajuwon and Jordan in doing so in the same season should he earn a second-straight MVP award this year.