NEW YORK — Boston’s Marcus Smart is the first guard in over a quarter-century to win the NBA defensive player of the year award.
NBA officials announced the award on Tuesday. The last guard to win this honor was Seattle’s Gary Payton in 1995-96.
Smart helped the Celtics lead the NBA in defensive rating and scoring defense (104.6) while holding opponents to a league-low field-goal percentage (.434) and 3-point percentage (.339). The 28-year-old ranked seventh in the NBA in steals per game (1.68) and tied for sixth in total steals (119).
Smart received 257 total points and earned 37 first-place votes from a panel of 100 sportswriters and broadcasters. Phoenix Suns forward Mikal Bridges finished second with 202 points and 22 first-place votes.
Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert, who had won the award in 2018, 2019 and 2021, finished third with 136 points and 12 first-place votes.
Smart, who started each of the 71 regular-season games he played, tied for fourth in loose balls recovered (75) and tied for 10th in deflections (106) and charges drawn (16). He had a career-high 3.2 defensive rebounds per game.
Smart was a star at Marcus High School in Flower Mound, Texas. While there, he won two state championships in 2011 and 2012 and was a McDonald's All-American.
He went on to play for Oklahoma State University before being drafted by the Celtics with the sixth overall pick in the 2014 draft.
Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo won defensive player of the year in 2020.
Players received five points for each first-place vote, three for each second-place vote and one for each third-place vote.
