Problem: Over the past few years, several guards and wings have been “snubbed” from NBA All-Defensive teams due to the limited number of spots and a somewhat biased grading system. Numerous players have voiced their concerns about the flaws in the current system, calling for a revamp. In this article, I propose a new approach to recognizing defensive excellence.

Defensive Player of the Year: A Co-Award System

The solution for Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY) is clear: introduce a co-award. While this concept does not currently exist in the NBA, there is an evident disconnect between what the stats show, what the film reveals, and how players perceive defensive impact.

Platforms like Cleaning the Glass have helped highlight the defensive contributions of guards and wings, similar to how big men’s defensive impacts have traditionally been measured. However, defensive impact extends beyond statistics—film study is crucial for adding context to the numbers.

A co-award would allow a deserving guard or wing to receive recognition even if their statistical profile doesn’t match that of a dominant big. While bigs are generally the most impactful defensive players, today’s NBA is a perimeter-centric league, and elite perimeter defenders deserve recognition.

Think of Marcus Smart and Giannis Antetokounmpo, or Jrue Holiday and Rudy Gobert. In a hypothetical scenario, if Victor Wembanyama maintains his current defensive dominance and Dyson Daniels excels on a slightly better team, there’s no reason both players shouldn’t be recognized. They impact the game in different but equally significant ways.

The NFL has both an Offensive and Defensive Rookie of the Year because rewarding just one player in a multi-faceted game wouldn’t make sense. While the NFL is structurally different—players only play one side of the ball—the core concept remains the same: two players excelling in different aspects of the game should both be acknowledged.

Proposed Defensive Player of the Year Winners:

• Defensive Player of the Year (Perimeter): Dyson Daniels
• Defensive Player of the Year (Paint): Evan Mobley

Defensive Teams Structure: Position-Based Model

Another issue highlighted last season, particularly with the introduction of positionless All-NBA teams, was the exclusion of guards from the All-Defensive First Team. While all First-Team selections were deserving, guards were once again overlooked due to statistical biases. To address this, I propose a position-based model that categorizes players based on their roles:

• Guards against guards.
• Wings against wings.
• Bigs against bigs.

A player can be eligible for multiple categories if they meet a minutes percentage threshold of greater than 30% in a different position. For example, Chet Holmgren is listed as a center but has played roughly 30% of his minutes at power forward, according to Cleaning the Glass. If he fails to make the All-Defensive Bigs team—competing with players like Wembanyama, Gobert, and Antetokounmpo—he could still be eligible for the All-Defensive Wings team if he meets the 30% threshold at the end of the season.

Projected Defensive Awards Using the New Format

All-Defensive Guards:

• Dyson Daniels
• Amen Thompson
• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander
• Derrick White
• Kris Dunn

All-Defensive Wings:

• Lu Dort
• Jalen Williams
• Jaden McDaniels
• Evan Mobley
• Ausar Thompson

All-Defensive Bigs:

• Jaren Jackson Jr.
• Giannis Antetokounmpo
• Bam Adebayo
• Ivica Zubac
• Draymond Green

By implementing these changes, the NBA would ensure that defensive excellence is recognized fairly across all positions, rather than allowing statistical biases to dictate awards. The league is evolving, and its award structure should evolve with it.