Fact Checking Bam Adebayo's Defensive Player of the Year Claim

It’s campaign season in the NBA, as players make their last-ditch pitches to be included for one of the league’s All-NBA teams and awards.

Bam Adebayo staked his claim to the Defensive Player of the Year award following the Miami Heat’s win over the Boston Celtics on Tuesday.

“It’s getting me Defensive Player of the Year,” Adebayo said in response to Dwyane Wade’s question about his afro. “Let’s talk about that.” 

Wade and the TNT crew egged Adebayo on to make his pitch for why he should win the award, and the University of Kentucky product kept it simple. 

“I do everything on defense,” Adebayo said. “And I’m going to walk out on that one.”

Bam may think he has the inside track to DPOY, but Vegas says otherwise. WynnBET doesn’t have Adebayo on its list of Defensive Player of the Year candidates. Rudy Gobert is such a runaway favorite, you can't even bet on him anymore. Ben Simmons (+325), Joel Embiid (+7500) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (+25000) are the only players with odds to win the award. 

Adebayo may receive a few votes for Defensive Player of the Year, but his numbers pale in comparison to Gobert and Simmons. On the season, Adebayo has totaled 3.1 defensive win shares. Gobert leads the league with 4.9. Simmons (3.3) also slightly edges Adebayo in the category. 

Gobert and Simmons also have a better defensive box plus/minus, which calculates the amount of defensive points a player has contributed as compared to the league average player. Adebayo (1.8) again trails Gobert (2.5) and Simmons (1.9). 

The beauty of all three of these players is that they are all equipped to defend in the paint and on the perimeter. Simmons is the most capable perimeter defender as he is a guard despite his size, and he averages 1.6 steals per game, which leads the group. 

Gobert is a master shot-blocker, and he has nearly sent away three shots per game (he averages 2.7 blocks) this season. Adebayo, who also plays down low, averages just one block per game. 

Defense in the NBA is much more than just recording steals and blocks, but for Adebayo to be trialing in the advanced metrics and in Vegas, it's hard to see him coming away with the award. 

We love the effort though, and Adebayo’s play has thrust the Heat into the No. 5 seed in the East. But DPOY is going to Gobert no matter what Adebayo says in his postgame interviews.