Defensive Player of the Year: Lonzo Ball
2nd: Kentavious Caldwell-Pope 3rd: Brook Lopez
Lonzo Ball may not get the ROTY award for the team, but we will give him the Defensive Player of the Year award.
Lonzo had the second highest DRTG on the team of players who played at least 50 games and also led the team in steals with 1.7 per game. He also had 0.8 blocks per game which was second on the team behind big man Brook Lopez.
Lonzo also had the most deflections for the Lakers with 2.9 per game. These stats show what type of player Lonzo is deep down. He struggled throughout most of the season with his shot and was ridiculed for it constantly. He never let those shooting woes stay in his head and follow him to the defensive end, as he performed well there almost every night.
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Kentavious Caldwell-Pope comes in 2nd for leading the team in Defensive Win Shares and coming in 2nd in deflections. Lopez gets 3rd for leading the team in blocks and being 5th in Defensive Win Shares.