Nick Young After Clutch Charge: 'I'm the Defensive Player of the Year Now'

You might as well take an extended vacation, NBA Defensive Player of the Year award voters, because your services will not be required this year.

Los Angeles Lakers swingman Nick Young took a charge on Detroit Pistons forward Josh Smith with two seconds left to preserve the Lakers' 106-102 win.

The charge can be seen at the two-minute, two-second mark of this highlight video.

And that does it, folks: We have ourselves a new DPOY.

Per Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times:

Young's words should come as no surprise. This is Nick Young we're talking about, after all, and Nick Young almost certainly thinks Nick Young should be the Defensive Player of the Year. The only surprise to Nick Young is that Nick Young hasn't won the award already.

This is a player who invited comparisons to Kanye West with his "Yeezus getup" following a November 23 win over the Golden State Warriors. And if Kanye can compare himself to William Shakespeare, Walt Disney and Andy Warhol, then why can't Young compare his defensive prowess to the likes of Ben Wallace and Dikembe Mutombo? 

Just for a laugh, let's see how Young stacks up to the last three Defensive Player of the Year award winners in terms of Basketball Reference's defensive win shares.

Season	DPOY Winner	DPOY Defensive Win Shares	Nick Young Defensive Win Shares
2012-13	Marc Gasol	5.4	1.0
2011-12	Tyson Chandler	3.6	0.6
2010-11	Dwight Howard	7.7	0.4

For what it's worth, Young's teammate, Jordan Farmar, had himself a nice little chuckle about the game-saving charge.

How dare he mock Swaggy P's charge-taking! Farmar will be laughing out the other side of his face when he's the only Laker not invited to Nick Young's Defensive Player of the Year award presentation ceremony!