The Brow’s DPOY Odds: Can Anybody Chip Away at Anthony Davis’ Defensive Player of the Year Odds
Greeting NBA fans and welcome back to our weekly discussion regarding the players that are the favorites to win the league’s Defensive Player of the Year award. Coming into the season, the names on this short list included reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, who just happens to be the NBA’s MVP from a season ago. The other two names in the running for the award are Anthony Davis from the Los Angeles Lakers and Utah Jazz big man Rudy Gobert, who has won the award in each of the past two seasons. Sure, hitting the game-winning shot to lift your team to victory is pretty amazing.
However, preventing your opponent from scoring and preserving a victory for your team can be just as exhilarating. So with that being said, here’s an updated look at how these players rank in the DPOY race based upon how they performed over the past week (Jan. 6 through Jan. 12).
Defensive Player of The Year 2019/2020 Odds
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The Third-Best NBA Defensive Player of the Year Odds: Giannis Antetokounmpo (+650—Last Week’s Odds: +600)
The Greek Freak played in four games last week. He put up 24-12-8 in an unexpected loss to the San Antonio Spurs and followed that up with a 30-13-4 outing in a win against the defending Western Conference champion Golden State Warriors. After a pedestrian 13-point outing against the Sacramento Kings, Antetokounmpo had his best outing of the week against the Portland Trail Blazers as he scored 32 points to go along with 17 rebounds and six dimes.
For the week, he averaged 24.8 points, 13 rebounds and 5.8 assists per contest. Although Giannis didn’t have his best week from an efficiency standpoint (shooting less than 50 percent in three of the four games), the Bucks still coasted to a 3-1 record and they have the best record in the league. From a defensive standpoint, it’s more of the same for Antetokounmpo as far as making a major impact. He recorded 1.3 steals per game but produced a total of just one block over the four-game stretch. As I previously stated, he will more than likely continue to be a distant third on the list barring unforeseen circumstances.
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The Second-Best NBA Defensive Player of the Year Odds: Rudy Gobert (+340—Last Week’s Odds: +300)
As was the case with Antetokounmpo, Gobert also suited four times over the past week. Following a quiet nine-point outing against the New Orleans Pelicans, Gobert went on to score 16, 15 and 21 points, respectively, in his next three outings against the New York Knicks, Charlotte Hornets and Washington Wizards. Additionally, he collected at least 13 rebounds in each of those outings.
From a defensive standpoint, he recorded a total of eight blocks for an average of two per contest over the past week, including a five-block outing against the Hornets. Even more important, Gobert helped the Jazz to an impressive 4-0 week and they have posted wins in each of their last nine outings. Davis has overtaken Gobert as the odds on favorite, but that doesn’t mean that things can’t change during the second half of the season.
The Best NBA Defensive Player of the Year Odds: Anthony Davis (-230—Last Week’s Odds: -177)
Anthony Davis played in just one game over the past week – a 117-87 win against the New York Knicks on Dec. 7. In that contest he finished with a stat line of five points, six rebounds, five assists, three steals and a pair of blocks. He exited the game at the 2:45 mark of the third quarter after sustaining a lower back injury. For obvious reasons, Davis didn’t have the same level of production as his counterparts on the list. On the flip side of the coin, he is averaging over 2.5 blocks per contest – the second-best mark in the association.
He is also averaging 1.5 steals, which ties him for 14th in the NBA and his .144 defensive win share is the 14th-best mark in the league. Overall, the Lakers are limiting opponents to 43.7 percent shooting from the field, which is the fourth-best mark in the NBA. With that in mind, if Davis continues to have this kind of a defensive impact, the award is his to lose.
