Home NBA Nic Claxton believes he’s a frontrunner for DPOY: ‘I should be right...

Nic Claxton believes he’s a frontrunner for DPOY: ‘I should be right there’

Brooklyn Nets big man Nicolas Claxton firmly believes that he is a well-deserved frontrunner for this season’s Defensive Player of the Year award race.

In an interview with HoopsHype’s Mike Scotto, Claxton detailed his very own reasoning on why he is a deserving one to be crowned.

“I think I should be No. 1,” Claxton told Scotto. “I’m defending one through five and neck and neck as the leading shot blocker. I’m doing everything on the defensive end for the team anchoring the defense every single night. I think I should be right there. Definitely.”

Claxton is salivating himself on a wonderful season together with the Brooklyn Nets, and his defensive numbers are backing him up on his case for the said defensive plume.

Currently, the young big man is leading the league in blocks (2.7) while averaging the second-best defensive rating (106.7) and defensive win shares (2.1) – a fantastic individual stat line for his defense masterclass.

As such, the anchoring he’s performing on a nightly basis has propelled the Nets to the eight-best defensive rating (112.1) that helped in their sudden revival this year as now the East’s second-seed with a 27-15 card.

The season is currently on its way to the middle portion. Numbers don’t entirely lie, and Claxton can only hope that he can maintain that consistency to strengthen his odds for the top defensive player award.

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