DEFENSIVE PLAYER
OF THE YEAR!

Huge congratulations to PUMA Hoops athlete & Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart🚀! He has been named NBA Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY) and is the first guard to take home the honor since the 1995-96 season. Marcus received 257 points (37 first-place votes) to finish first in the voting. He also finished the season ranked seventh in the NBA in steals per game (1.68) 👀🔒 for the Celtics team.

This is the first DPOY award for him. And it is well deserved. Marcus is the vocal leader of the Boston’s team defense and often referred to as the “coach on the floor”. It is the eighth year in the NBA for the 1.93 m point guard.

 

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“To be able to be named the Defensive Player of the Year and be the first guard since Gary Payton in 1996 to win this, it just shows that it can be done. The way the game is changing, the guards have been more recognized for their ability to do certain things we shouldn’t be able to do at our size, and this award and me winning it opens the path for guards in the future.”  – Marcus Smart 

 

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