Nba Defensive Player Of The Year 2020 Odds
“Defense wins championships” is something the old-school loves to say but the last time a Defensive Player of the Year was on a title team was Draymond Green on 2016-17 Golden State Warriors.
- Nba Defensive Player Of The Year Award
- Best Defensive Players Nba History
- Best Nba Defensive Players 2020
- Nba Defensive Players Of The Year History
- Nba Defensive Player Of The Year
The reigning champion Los Angeles Lakers start their title defense with a DPOY-candidate in F Anthony Davis. He’s chasing Milwaukee Bucks F Giannis Antetokounmpo (+450) for the DPOY crown.
The NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year award is one of the 12 major prizes handed out at the annual NBA Awards. It is given to the best defensive player during the regular season. The winner is selected by a panel of 124 sportscasters and broadcasters from the United States and Canada.
View the latest odds on NBA Defensive Player Of The Year 2020-21 Matches & Bet with Sportsbet. Join Australia's Favourite Online Betting and Entertainment Website. The NBA Defensive Player of the Year award first went out to Hall of Famer Sidney Moncrief following the 1982-83 season. Since then, the award has been given each year to the player determined to be the best defensive contributor during the regular season. Like most awards of its kind, sportswriters and broadcasters vote in its winner. NBA Defensive Player of the Year Odds for the 2020-2021 regular season, focusing on the best defensive players at US legal online sportsbooks. Vegas Insider provides all the available future odds for NBA Players to win the 2020-21 MVP award.
The 2020-21 NBA season tips off Tuesday and now is the time to start shopping the future markets. Below, we’ll make our picks and predictions for the NBA’s 2020-21 Defensive Player of the Year based on the betting odds at BetMGM.
Also see:
Bank on these MVP futures betsBest bets and predictions for 2020-21 NBA champion
2020-21 NBA Defensive Player of the Year: Betting odds, picks and predictions
Odds via BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated Monday at 3 p.m. ET.
Favorite: Milwaukee Bucks F Giannis Antetokounmpo (+450)
How Giannis is not No. 1 by the betting odds is pretty surprising. There have been more back-to-back DPOYs since they started giving out the award in 1982-83 than not. Ten players have been named DPOY in consecutive seasons.
It started with Bucks G Sidney Moncrief winning the first two and the list of consecutive winners since includes Dennis Rodman, Hakeem Olajuwon, Dikembe Mutombo, Alonzo Mourning, Ben Wallace (back-to-back on two different occasions), Dwight Howard (three straight), Kawhi Leonard and Rudy Gobert.
Most importantly, Giannis led the NBA last season in defensive win shares, defensive box plus-minus, was second in rebounds per game and there’s no real regression expected. The dude is at peak athleticism and has virtually no injury history. At +450, Giannis becoming the 11th NBA player in history to win Defensive Player of the Year in back-to-back seasons is my personal favorite bet.
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Contender: Los Angeles Clippers F Kawhi Leonard (+2000)
Have we forgotten how dominant The Claw can be on the defensive end of the floor? Well, let me remind of you the resume: Back-to-back DPOY trophies (2014-15 and 2015-16) and six-time All-Defensive Team, including three consecutive first-team All-Defense from 2014-15 to 2016-17.
Plus, the embarrassment of having a longer-than-expected rest (aka getting bounced in the second round of the Western Conference playoffs) could motivate Kawhi to put in his all-time best season. Leonard is still just 29 years old and if the Clippers finish in the top-2 of the Western Conference, he’ll be in the conversation for a couple of awards. The value on the two-time DPOY winner to claim the award again in 2020-21 is too good to overlook.
Long shot: Golden State Warriors F Draymond Green (+5000)
BetMGM has some crazy names on the board for DPOY so it might be a little disrespectful to list the 2016-17 NBA Defensive Player of the Year as a long shot, but this is the furthest down the list I’d go for a bet.
The 2019-20 season was a bit of a down year for Green, individually and for his squad. You have to think the Warriors are due for a bounce-back season, right? PG Steph Curry looks good in preseason and if the Warriors make it back to the playoffs—which it would be very disappointing if they didn’t—then Green should be the defensive anchor.
The Warriors have a lot of length in their starting lineup and if they can pivot to be a little more defensive-oriented, and if he takes No. 2 overall pick C James Wiseman under his wing, then Draymond stands to get the most praise on that team.
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The NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year award is one of the 12 major prizes handed out at the annual NBA Awards. It is given to the best defensive player during the regular season. The winner is selected by a panel of 124 sportscasters and broadcasters from the United States and Canada.
Although five out of the first six winners of the awards were perimeter players, the award has been traditionally given to big men who dominate the defensive end with their rebounding and shot-blocking abilities. Overall, only seven perimeter players have won the award with Gary Payton in 1996 as the only point guard to win the award and Kawhi Leonard in 2016 the last perimeter player to do so.
Rudy Gobert is the reigning Defensive Player of the Year awardee and he has won the award in the last two seasons. Gobert, Sidney Moncrief, Mark Eaton, Dennis Rodman, Hakeem Olajuwon, and Alonzo Mourning have won the award twice while Dwight Howard won three in a row from 2009-11. Dikembe Mutombo and Ben Wallace own the distinction as the only players to win the DPOY award a record four times.
This year, the Milwaukee Bucks’ Giannis Antetokounmpo is the betting favorite to win the Defensive Player of the Year award. The Greek Freak is a huge -480 favorite to take home this year’s best defensive player honors. Next to him on the odds board is Los Angeles Lakers big man Anthony Davis who came back at +260. AD has helped the Lakers to the best record in the Western Conference with the 3rd best defensive rating in the league
Here are the odds to win the 2020 NBA Defensive Player of the Year award:
| Player | Odds |
|---|---|
| Giannis Antetokounmpo | -480 |
| Anthony Davis | +260 |
| Rudy Gobert | +3300 |
| Ben Simmons | +6000 |
| Joel Embiid | +6000 |
| Kawhi Leonard | +6000 |
| Brook Lopez | +10000 |
| Jimmy Butler | +10000 |
| Marcus Smart | +10000 |
| Myles Turner | +10000 |
Who Are the Favorites?
Giannis Antetokounmpo could join Michael Jordan and Hakeem Olajuwon as the only players in NBA history to win the NBA MVP and Defensive Player of the Year award in the same season. Giannis isn’t just the odds on favorite here but he is also almost a lock to win his second straight MVP award and is also the betting favorite there. Milwaukee had the best defensive rating in the league this season and they were a good two points per 100 possessions better than 2nd place Toronto. Sure, you can’t say that it’s all Giannis but he is the driving force behind the Milwaukee defense. Antetokounmpo averaged 13.7 rebounds, 1.0 block, and 1.0 steal per game but it’s not even the numbers that make him great. The Bucks’ defense is designed so that he can go after a three-point basket and then fly in to grab the rebound. That’s not even counting his ability to harass an offensive player with his length and athleticism, forcing bad passes that lead to easy points for the Bucks.
When Anthony Davis joined the Lakers, his goal was to win the Defensive Player of the Year award more than winning the NBA MVP honors. Davis led the Lakers in scoring at 26.7 points per game but more than his offense, it was his defense that really contributed much to the success of the Lakers. Davis averaged 9.4 rebounds, 2.4 blocks, and 1.5 steals per game for the Purple and Gold. Davis’ effort on the defensive end not only gave him excellent numbers but it also lifted the defensive performance of his teammates. As a result, the Lakers had the third-best defensive rating in the league during the 2019-20 season. His shot-blocking skills propelled him to second in the league in that department with an average of 2.4 blocks per game. He also ranked 15th in steals and was one of two seven-footers in the Top 15.
Rudy Gobert has won the Defensive Player of the Year award in the last two seasons and if he wins again this year, he will join Dwight Howard as the only players in NBA history to win the award in three straight seasons. Gobert averaged 13.7 points, 2.0 blocks, and 0.8 steals per game and while those are great numbers, they were not enough to put the Jazz among the elites on defense this season. The Jazz ranked 1st and 2nd in defensive efficiency during the 2018 and 2019 seasons. However, Utah is just 11th overall in the league at 108.8 points per 100 possessions. In the 15 games before the suspension of the season, the Jazz defense was just 21st overall in the NBA. Despite Utah’s defensive decline, Gobert was named to his first-ever All-Star team and his 13.7 rebounds per game is a career-high for the Frenchman.
Ben Simmons was having his best season ever in 2019-20 before it was suspended. The former #1 pick from LSU was dominating on both ends of the floor. Simmons averaged 16.7 points and 8.2 assists on offense and was grabbing 7.8 rebounds while leading the league in steals at 2.1 per game. Then he missed eight games with a back injury and the league went to a pause. Now the question is whether he has done enough to merit him the award. I’m not sure really, but when you take a look at Simmons, no player in the league can seamlessly guard opponents from positions one to five. The average field goal percentage of the players he’s guarded was just 41.4%. Aside from his ability to defend his man, Simmons was also a disruptive force as he led the league in defensive loose ball recoveries and was third overall in deflections. As for his effect on the team, the Sixers are 6th in Defensive Rating this year after finishing 14th in that department last season.
Who Wins?
Like the MVP race, I think that the 2020 Defensive Player of the Year award is down to two men: Anthony Davis and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
When we talk about Anthony Davis, the Brow is no stranger to being in this position. While he’s never won the award before, he has been a finalist a couple of times. Davis has been named to the All-Defensive second team twice and the All-Defensive first team once. This season, he has helped the Lakers become the third-best defensive team in the league. Davis has a career average of 2 blocks and 1 steal per game and there are only six other players in the history of the league to put up the same career numbers. But while Davis has been outstanding this season, one man was perhaps slightly better than him this year.
Nba Defensive Player Of The Year Award
Best Defensive Players Nba History
The 2020 Milwaukee Bucks are one of the best defensive teams in the history of the NBA. And their defense is schemed in such a way that Giannis Antetokounmpo’s strengths will shine. Like Ben Simmons, Giannis’ freakish size allows him to defend players from one to five. Like Anthony Davis, he has size, speed, length, and athleticism to shut down passing lanes and protect the rim. He alternated between a center and a guard on defense.
Giannis’ blocks numbers are down as he is averaging fewer blocks per game this year than he did in each of his previous five NBA seasons.
However, he no longer has to go after the shots with teammate Brook Lopez leading the league in blocks. But when you take a look at his defending skills, opponents are shooting 41.9% at the rim when he is the primary defender, that’s the best average in the league among players who have contested at least 50 shots.
I think this is a special year for Giannis. We knew he would figure in the MVP race again after winning it last year. But he’s surprised us by becoming one of the premier defensive players in the league. I think he joins the company of MJ and the Dream this year. Antetokounmpo is the best player in the league right now and we should get used to his name being in many award ballots.
Best Nba Defensive Players 2020
Prediction: Giannis Antetokounmpo