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Throughout his 21-year NBA career, LeBron James has racked up individual and team awards. He ranks among the most talented and highly decorated players to set foot on a basketball court in the NBA and international competition.
However, for all of his accomplishments throughout his career, there seems to be one award that has eluded him thus far. That award is the Hakeem Olajuwon trophy, better known as the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year award.
At this point in his career, LeBron has yet to win the NBA's DPOY, which is perhaps the only individual accomplishment he has yet to add to his trophy collection. However, he has come close several times.
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Twice in his career, he finished the season as the runner-up for this particular award. The first time was in 2009 when he came in behind Dwight Howard. The then-Orlando Magic Center ended up with 105 first-place votes while LeBron James came in second at 4 votes.
The second time LeBron came in second in DPOY voting was in 2013. Marc Gasol ended up winning with 30 first-place votes while LeBron James finished with 18.
Despite never winning the DPOY award, he has been named to five NBA All-Defensive First teams from 2009 to 2013 and an NBA All-Defensive Second team in 2014.
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Taking a look at LeBron James' other awards
While he's never been the NBA's DPOY, LeBron James has won plenty of accolades. He started his career strong by winning the NBA's Rookie of the Year award in 2004 over Carmelo Anthony and from there, the awards only kept rolling in.
In his second season in the league (2004-05), he was already named to the first of his three All-NBA Second Teams. The two other times were in 2007 and 2021. He has also been on the All-NBA Third Team three times and a part of the All-NBA First Team 13 times.
He has also been an All-Star from 2005 through 2024 and has earned the All-Star MVP award three times (2006, 2008, 2018).
LeBron also won the scoring title in 2008 and has since then taken over as the league's best scorer. He is the first and only player so far to ever score over 40,000 career points and he's not done yet. He has also validated his status as an elite playmaker by being the league's assists leader in 2020.
Perhaps some of the most prestigious awards in LeBron's trophy case are the four NBA MVPs he won in 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2013. As well as the four Finals MVPs he's earned alongside each one of his four NBA titles in 2012, 2013, 2016 and 2020 with the Miami Heat, Cleveland Cavaliers and the LA Lakers.
He's also earned his place among the league's greatest athletes of all time as a part of the NBA 75th Anniversary team.
While LeBron James has never won the Defensive Player of the Year, he has certainly amassed an impressive collection of other awards.
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