Celtics' Smart 1st guard to win NBA defensive player of the year in 26 years

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 Monday. The last guard to win this honour was Seattle's Gary Payton in 1995-96.

Smart helped the Celtics lead the NBA in defensive rating and scoring defence (104.6) while holding opponents to a league-low field-goal percentage (.434) and three-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).

Utah Jazz centre 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.

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.