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We already knew that Bam Adebayo did not finish as one of the top three finalists for the Defensive Player of the Year award. With today’s announcement that Rudy Gobert won the award for the third time in four years, we now have the voting results.
This is the third NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award for Rudy Gobert. He is the fourth player to win the award at least three times, joining Dikembe Mutombo (four), Ben Wallace (four) and Dwight Howard (three).
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) June 10, 2021
More ➡️ https://t.co/63VBakX4xU
Full voting results ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/Cmv6yR3SnC
Adebayo finished fourth, with just one first-place vote. The Miami Heat ran a social media campaign to promote his candidacy during the regular season.
The Heat’s 2017 first-round draft pick finished fifth in Defensive Player of the Year voting for the 2019-20 season. He also made the All-Defensive Second Team in 2020 for the first time in his career. The All-Defensive teams have not yet been named for this season.
Jimmy Butler, who also put together a strong defensive season and led the league in steals, received two third-place votes for the award. Some Heat fans thought he should have gotten more recognition.
Jimmy Butler only had one more DPOY vote than KCP pic.twitter.com/Rx4h9OT59a
— Austin (@ChefTrillie_) June 10, 2021
Butler has made the All-Defensive Team four times in his career, but did not make it last year.
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