NBA Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY) 2021: February Power Ranking

#3 Myles Turner - Indiana Pacers

Indiana's Myles Turner #33

Though he has a good supporting cast on defense, Indiana Pacers' center Myles Turner is having an extraordinary season on the defensive end. Turner is arguably the greatest rim protector in today's game, and his year on defense has been awesome.

Turner is leading the league in blocks per game with 3.8, and the second-placed player (Rudy Gobert) is at 2.6. He also ranks first in Block Percentage by a big margin and is eighth in Defensive Rating.

Moreover, Turner ranks sixth in Defensive Win Shares and third in Defensive Box Plus/Minus.

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#2 Rudy Gobert - Utah Jazz

Rudy Gobert with his trophies at the NBA 2018-19 Awards

Rudy Gobert is already a two-time winner of the NBA DPOY award, and his name will continue to come up in DPOY discussions during this season.

A little more than a quarter of the way into the season, the Jazz have three strong candidates for major awards DPOY -- Rudy Gobert6th Man -- Jordan ClarksonCOY -- Quin Snyder

— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) January 30, 2021

The Frenchman ranks second in blocks per game with 2.6 (career-high) and third in rebounds per game. Gobert has the second-best Defensive Rating in the entire NBA (100.2), and he is also second in Defensive Win Shares.

He won the Defensive Player of the Year award consecutively in the 2017-18 and 2018-19 NBA seasons. If he adds his third trophy, he will be the fourth player in NBA history with at least three DPOY awards (Dikembe Mutombo, Ben Wallace, and Dwight Howard).

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#1 Anthony Davis - LA Lakers

Laker's Anthony Davis #3

Our own favorite to win the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award back in the offseason, Anthony Davis, is performing at the expected level on the defensive end of the basketball court.

The LA Lakers' second-best player is clearly the reigning champions' best and most versatile defender. If he keeps this level on defense, Davis will finally become a DPOY winner after finishing second in last year's voting and making four All-Defensive teams in his career so far.

Doing his thing on both sides of the floor. @AntDavis23 x #NBAAllStar pic.twitter.com/BZy1bBemun

— Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) February 2, 2021

Davis is leading the NBA in Defensive Rating and is the only current player who allows less than 100 points per 100 possessions (his Defensive Rating is at 99.8). He is also leading the league in Defensive Win Shares.

Though Davis is 6' 11'', this would not be a case of another big man dominating the award. We saw it last year with Antetokounmpo; versatile defenders who are tall and quick enough to guard almost every player on the opposing team will have the advantage over any other defender.

Davis has finished in the Top-5 of the DPOY voting three times in his career. He was fourth in the 2014-15 voting, third in 2017-18, and second last year.

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