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How many Defensive Player of the Year awards do Michael Jordan and LeBron James have?
Michael Jordan vs LeBron James: Discover the defensive accolades of NBA legends. Why just one DPOY award for Jordan, but none for James?
The Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY) award stands as a beacon of defensive excellence in the NBA. It emphasizes the crucial role players undertake on the defensive end of the court. The award is determined through the collective votes of selected media professionals. These media personnel go through a comprehensive process in which they analyze a player's defensive statistics, advanced stats, and their own eye-test observations to assess players’ impact on the game.
The steals, blocks, defensive win shares, and every other aspect of a player's defensive contribution is scrutinized and studied. Additionally, a player's influence on their team's overall defensive performance is also gauged. The Players who win the NBA Defensive Player of the Year are recipients of the Hakeem Olajuwon Trophy. Every DPOY winner solidifies their place among the all-time great defenders.
Michael Jordan:
One of the greatest players of all-time Michael Jordan won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award for the 1987-88 season. Jordan was always an unstoppable force on offense but was on a tear on the defensive end in the 1987-88 NBA. This season, Jordan played all 82 games and led the NBA in steals per game with 3.2. Jordan emerged as a lockdown defender as he averaged 1.6 blocks per game. 
Moreover, Jordan’s impact can be seen in the advanced stats. He topped the league in Defensive Box Plus Minus (DBPM) and ranked second in Defensive Win Shares (DWS). His impact on the defensive end was the only reason why the Chicago Bulls had the third-best defense in the league that season.
While being a defensive monster, the NBA icon also continued his offensive domination, as he averaged 35 points per game on 53.5% shooting from the field for the entire season. Michael Jordan is the only player to average over 30 points per game in a season while winning both the MVP and DPOY awards in the same season. Later, Hakeem Olajuwon (1993-1994) and Giannis Antetokounmpo (2019-2020) won MVP and DPOY in the same season but they did not average more than 30 points per game. Michael Jordan’s 1987-88 NBA season is still widely regarded as one of the greatest individual performances in NBA history.
LeBron James:
LeBron James had an illustrious Hall of Fame career spanning over two decades, but he never won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY) award. Throughout his career, LeBron James’ impact on the defensive end of the court has been significant. He was a five-time NBA All-Defensive First Team from 2009 to 2013 and once made it to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team in 2014. For most of his prime years, LeBron had an elite ability to guard all five positions on the court. Throughout his 21-year NBA career, LeBron James came agonizingly close to winning the coveted DPOY award twice. However, he finished as the runner-up on both occasions, in the 2008-09 and 2012-13 NBA seasons.
In the 2008-09 season, a young and athletic LeBron led the Cleveland Cavaliers to a 66-16 record while showcasing his defensive versatility. LeBron's stats from that season included second-place finishes in the Defensive Box Plus Minus and Defensive Win Shares. However, James could not dethrone Dwight Howard, who dominated all the defensive statistics just as he dominated offensive players in the paint that season.
Similarly, in the 2012-13 season, LeBron finished as the runner-up in the DPOY race. Despite his exceptional defensive performances all season long, he lost the coveted award to Marc Gasol of the Memphis Grizzlies. This loss left LeBron feeling gutted as over the years he has openly expressed his disappointment of not winning the DPOY in 2013.
In conclusion, Michael Jordan solidified his defensive legacy with a DPOY award during his illustrious career. However, despite his defensive prowess, LeBron James has yet to claim the coveted honor.
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