Bam Adebayo: I should have won DPOY the last two years

Miami Heat forward Bam Adebayo thinks that he should have won the last two DPOY awards.

Rudy Gobert won the award in 2020-2021 while last season Marcus Smart was the winner of the Defensive Player of the Year Trophy.

Per Sun Sentinel, Bam Adebayo might prove able to push past last season’s disappointment of losing Game 7 of the Eastern Conference finals to the Celtics, but he apparently is not letting go of being beaten out for NBA Defensive Player of the Year the last two seasons by Marcus Smart and Rudy Gobert. “I should have won it the last two years,” Adebayo told the assembled campers at the Heat’s youth clinic, when asked about his ongoing goals, “and I will win it this year.” Caesar’s Sports Book has Heat forward Adebayo as the second choice for DPOY, at +700, to win 2023 NBA Defensive Player of the Year, behind only Gobert (+550), well ahead of Smart (+1000).