NBA Award Watch: Brogdon, Chandler and Gordon grab accolades

With Week 10 in the books, we’re handing out awards to NBA players for their amazing performances, showcasing different skills — on and off the court.

2017 brought us a lot of amazing moments in the NBA. From Russell Westbrook’s ridiculous triple-double average to Kevin Durant’s first NBA Title to Kyrie Irving’s trade request to Lonzo Ball’s entry in the NBA. The league brought in new stars, more pettiness and fantastic moments.

In this weekly column, I’ll start to hand out awards based on the performances of the previous week. Obviously, some weeks I’ll take a look at the major NBA honors, including MVP, Defensive Player of the Year, Rookie of the Year, Sixth Man of the Year, Coach of the Year, Most Improved Player and Executive of the Year. Other than these usual honors, I’ll also hand out awards for the Best Dunk, Dazzling Dime, Perfect Play, Fantastic Fashion and Terrific Tweet.

Defensive Player of the Year

Kevin Durant has had a roller coaster of an offseason and start the 2017-18 season. He won his first NBA Title and Finals’ MVP, but faced a weird offseason, filled with weird tweets, shoes for his haters and even throwing Under Armour — Steph Curry’s major endorser — under the bus.

Yet one of his biggest improvements this season has been on the defensive end of the floor. While the reigning Defensive Player of the Year is also on the Warriors, his defensive performance has been overshadowed.

The biggest sign that Kevin Durant has turned the corner on defense is the play on LeBron James at the end of the game on Christmas Day. Durant was able to stay in front of James, block his layup attempts and shut down the four-time MVP. That was one of his game-high five blocks.

Durant was been a leading blocker for the Warriors and the NBA. He leads the league with 71 blocks and is the defensive anchor for the No. 1 defensive unit in the league. That’s good enough for me to award Durant as the DPOY.