page_title: NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award
section_title: Winners
hierarchical_section_title: NBA Defensive Player of the Year Award / Winners
caption_attribution_description: English: Chicago Bulls. Michael Jordan 1987-88
context_page_description: The NBA's Defensive Player of the Year Award is an annual National Basketball Association award given since the 1982–83 NBA season to the best defensive player of the regular season. The winner is selected by a panel of 124 sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada, each of whom casts a vote for first, second and third place selections. Each first-place vote is worth five points, second-place votes are worth three points, and a third-place vote is worth one. The player with the highest point total, regardless of the number of first-place votes, wins the award.
  Dikembe Mutombo and Ben Wallace have each won the award a record four times. Dwight Howard is the only player to have won the award in three consecutive seasons. Sidney Moncrief, Mark Eaton, Dennis Rodman, Hakeem Olajuwon, Alonzo Mourning, Kawhi Leonard, and Rudy Gobert have each won it twice. The most recent award recipient is Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks.
  Although five of the first six winners were perimeter players, the award has traditionally been given to big men who rebound and block shots.
caption: Michael Jordan is one of five players to have won both an MVP and a Defensive Player of the Year award in their career.
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