“Always thought I was the best defender in the league” - Former NBA champion makes bold claim, wants to win Defensive Player of the Year award

The Toronto Raptors logged their fourth win of the 2022-23 NBA season against the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday with a 143-100 rout. The Raptors improved their record to 5-3, while the Spurs fell to 5-3.

The 43-point win is the highest margin of victory for any game in the 2022-23 NBA season, with Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks' 41-point triumph over the Memphis Grizzlies coming in as a close second.

Pascal Siakam scored a 22-point, 10-rebound and 11-assist triple-double, and Gary Trent Jr. logged a game-high 24 points. OG Anunoby added 18 points, five assists and five steals on 7-for-12 shooting, and reigning Rookie of the Year Scottie Barnes, added 15 points in the victory.

The Raptors led by as many as 48 points toward the end of the fourth quarter, and had they won by 48 points, it would have been the second-largest margin of victory in their franchise history.

Nonetheless, the 43-point victory is the fourth-highest margin of victory in their history.

However, this isn't where the records stopped for the Raptors. OG Anunoby's five steals are the third highest of his career. Anunoby's six steals against the Hawks earlier this week matched the second-highest of his career. He currently leads the league at 2.9 steals per game.

Anunoby's defensive prowess has long been touted as his greatest strength, having been corroborated by Pascal Siakam's comments following Toronto's 30-point win over Atlanta on Monday:

“He can be a defensive player of the year kinda guy… when he’s locked in, you can see it.” (via) Adam Lasarkis

Siakam further added that Anunoby could be a "nightmare" for opponents.

Anunoby addressed Siakam's comments and his aspirations to become the Defensive Player of the Year in a postgame interview yesterday:

"I think I have always prided myself on defense. Pascal's always been supportive of me on defense, telling me to, you know, do what I do on defense.

"I mean defensively, I have always wanted to be Defensive Player of the Year. I've always thought I was the best defender in the league. I have thought that for the last, I don't know how many years."

OG Anunoby's defense in the NBA, by the numbers

Toronto Raptors vs. Brooklyn Nets.

There is very little that beats the eye test when it comes to defense. Unlike offense, great defensive performances don't get a lot of love on the box score, with steals and blocks being the flagbearers of defense on a standard NBA box score.

However, that is far from what a good defensive performance entails, and Anunoby is a great example to prove just that.

Anunoby has never led the league in steals or blocks, however, he was top 20 (14) in steals during the 2019-20 NBA season. Injuries kept Anunoby from logging full seasons in 2020 and 2021.

His best season defensively was 2019-20, where he had a defensive rating of 104 (13th best in the league). Defensive rating (or DRTG) is an estimate of points given up per 100 possessions.

Anunoby's DFG% for the 2019-20 NBA season was in impressive 43.7%, a little over two percentage points lower than the average field-goal percentage for the season.

DFG% of a player is the percentage of field goals made by an opponent when defended by the said player.

Anunoby is on pace to eclipse all of these stats. In the eight games he has played in the 2022-23 season, his DFG% is an impressive 40.7%. His DRTG is top 10 in the league at 103.2, and as previously mentioned, already leads the league in steals (23).