Why Tim Duncan never won Defensive Player of the Year

Best individual defender in a season? Check. Best defender on best defensive team? Check. He met all the “requirements”, so why did he never win?

It’s nearly impossible to poke any holes in Tim Duncan’s resume. The Hall of Famer is widely considered the greatest power forward of all time with five NBA championships, two MVP’s, three Finals MVP’s, 15 All-Star appearances (back when the game was taken more seriously), and making both All-NBA and All-Defensive Teams 15 times. He is also the only player in NBA history to make the All-NBA and Defense teams in 13 consecutive seasons. Some haters will try and nitpick — like he never repeated as a champion, and for some reason Lakers fans like to try (and fail) and hype Anthony Davis over him — but for the most part, Duncan’s resume speaks for itself.

However, if there is one glaring hole, it’s that he never won Defensive Player of the Year, which considering all the All-Defense appearances (including 8 times on the first team), remains mind-boggling to this day, especially as the goal posts seemingly get moved every year for what the actual definition of this reward is. Look no further than this season, when the consensus top two candidates for DPOY are Rudy Gobert and Victor Wembanyama. Gobert, the favorite to win the award for the fourth time, is no doubt a great defender, with his case this year being he’s the best defender on the best defense.

Then there’s Wemby, who is already considered the best individual defender in league, leading in blocks with 3.6 per game and stocks (steals + blocks) with 4.8. His presence alone is enough to deter players from even trying to go at him, and when they do, they often regret it as he has 10% block rate or will force the player to adjust into a nearly impossible shot. But here’s the thing: he’s a rookie on a bottom-10 defense in the league (although the Spurs grew from worst early in the season to 21st in defensive rating by the end).

There’s something about those two facts that will guide most voters towards for Gobert, and it just goes to show that the goal posts are always moving depending on the situation (as is often the case for MVP). Some years it’s for best individual defender, others it’s best defender on the best defense, but regardless, there is little doubt Wemby will be DPOY the year someday, possibly even multiple times (if he’s not absorbing MVPs, and voters usually don’t give the same player both awards in the same year).

That brings us back to Duncan. He hit both of those aforementioned marks multiple times but never won because he always seemed to be on the wrong side of the goal post in any given year, among other reasons. For one, he was splitting votes with Bruce Bowen, which in turn hurt both their cases. Not to mention, there may have been the view that the Spurs just had a good defensive system as opposed to being carried by a couple of good defenders, and we all remember the “system player” stigma, right?

Another explanation is one that has always worked against Duncan: he wasn’t flashy. He didn’t block balls into the third row, he didn’t flex at his opponents, and he didn’t put up the sexiest stats. He was just there, making life hard for his opponents before moving on to the next possession. That would explain why during his era, players like Ben Wallace and Dwight Howard won DPOY a whopping seven times combined: they were defenders first and foremost who recorded big stats and made crowds scream when they blocked shots with authority, while Duncan would go for the less flashy “light” block, with the goal of retaining possession (which is an underappreciated but important skill).

Finally, there’s the previously mentioned note that, with rare expectation, most voters simply aren’t going to vote the same player for MVP and DPOY, so that likely led to some split votes for Duncan as well. Only five players have ever won both awards in their entire careers, only only twice did it happen in the same year: Hakeem Olajuwan in 1993-94, and Giannis Antetokounmpo in 2019-20. (Interestingly enough, in both cases, those players were on their second straight MVP when they won DPOY. It actually wouldn’t be surprising to see Wemby join their company someday.)

To summarize, the main reasons I believe Tim Duncan never won Defensive player of the year are the following: he was splitting votes with teammates, splitting votes between MVP and DPOY, and the most common culprit: he just wasn’t flashy enough while playing in an era when defense in the NBA was at its peak. There is zero doubt he should have won it at least once, if not more — take 2006-07 for instance, when Marcus Camby won despite the Spurs being the best defense in the league while the Nuggets were mid, moving that goal post once again — but while it remains the one glaring hole in his resume, it certainly doesn’t take away from his overall career. He is and always will be the GOAT PUFF.