Heat's Bam Adebayo Says He's Eyeing Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2023-24

Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo has one specific individual goal for the 2023-24 season—to win the NBA's Defensive Player of the Year award.

"Everybody always looks at the last column, which is how many points did he score in the game? And people forget that other side of the court exists because of the entertainment business," he told Playmaker. "So for me it's just that will, that passion, that mentality. ... I want to get Defensive Player of the Year just so I can have the award."

It's a realistic goal. Adebayo, 26, is a versatile and athletic defender who has been a second-team All-Defensive selection four times in his career. He's finished top five in the Defensive Player of the Year voting in each of the past four seasons, though he's never been higher than fourth.

The issue for Adebayo is that he doesn't have the counting stat that DPOY winners at the center position often accumulate, which is blocks. For his career, he's averaged 0.9 blocks per game. However, he has posted at least 1.1 steals per game for four seasons running.

Last year's winner, Jaren Jackson Jr., averaged a whopping three blocks per game. Rudy Gobert, a three-time winner of the award, has averaged 2.1 blocks per game for his career.

When Giannis Antetokounmpo won the award in the 2019-20 season and Draymond Green did so in the 2016-17 campaign, they averaged a block per game and 1.4 blocks per game, respectively, which was impressive considering neither are traditional centers.

So is Adebayo wants this particular recognition, he may have to improve in that area.