“Attack wins you games, defense wins you titles,” says Sir Alex Ferguson. This quote holds heavy in all two-way sports. Basketball is one of them. And in such sports, the defense always goes unappreciated. Despite the first official NBA game being played in 1946, DPOY award was introduced only from the 1982-’83 season. However, the NBA acknowledging that is a massive move for giving props to players winning titles from behind the shadows. The front runner for the DPOY this year is Warriors center Draymond Green. But for former Celtics star Kendrick Perkins, recent events have made him think otherwise.

Everyone had Spurs youngster Victor Wembanyama tipped to win it in his second season. But his deep vein thrombosis in February pretty much blew the award away. This shuffled up the pack, with all the defensive players of the league playing with a point to prove. The Warriors resurgence just so happened to coincide with this time, going from 11th to 7th in 2 months. Fresher Jimmy Butler might get all the credit for that, but Green’s work for the Golden State has got him as the front-runner for the award.

But when the Warriors took on the Clippers for the last playoffs spot in the last game of the season, the DrayMagic showed signs of weakness. And that, for Kendrick Perkins, was the writing on the wall. “I’m watching that game, and I’m watching Draymond guard Zubac, and when they throw it into that low block, guess what I see coming? A trap! So I’m like no, no, no,” Perkins said. “If you’re the Defensive Player of the Year, there’s no help. There’s no help, I got him straight up. There’s no double-teaming on that.”

This is a big statement to make. The DPOY award is massively open. Draymond Green was just the favourite. But there have been questions regarding its credibility. For other awards, it’s pretty easy to dumb down the potential candidates to 4 or 5 players maximum. But for this, there’s about 10 players you could name off the top of your mind. Does this call for a change from Adam Silver and the NBA?

Austin Rivers beckons a change in status quo regarding DPOY award from Adam Silver

Everyone seems to have their own favourites for the award. But that should usually revolve around a few selected players who deserve it the most. Not a full list of candidates who won’t even guarantee a majority vote, like how it is right now. Seeing this, former guard Austin Rivers beckons a change.

“But I do know for certain his [Green] name was not in the conversation for the bulk of the season. Well people just, Wemby was just gonna get it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then I thought originally when Wemby was ineligible I thought Evan Mobley. Don’t know. Think that was kind of like the season we was up there. Zubac, the guy that’s name has been campaigned. Dyson Daniels for me has just been the best. He’s had the most steals out of any guard in 20 years or something,” said Rivers on his podcast The Ringer.

Do you see the problem with this? There’s no clear front-runner. Yes, this does speak volumes of the quality of the competition. But something has to change. This isn’t a healthy contest for giving credit to the true defensive player of the year. A panel of 124 sportswriters and broadcasters from the United States and Canada are the final deciders of who gets the award. It solely depends on their decision of who truly deserves the title. As for the award in general, what’s to change to make it better? Well, that’s upto the commissioner of the NBA, Adam Silver.

Whether Draymond Green deserves to win or not, that’s upto you. It’s a subjective decision. But Kendrick Perkins has changed his opinion, and now favours Lu Dort. But the true purpose of the award gets defeated if there’s no player viable to take the majority. So this is something that has to be looked at. Over to you, Adam!