10 players with multiple NBA Defensive Player of the Year awards

Since the 1982-83 season, 23 players have won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award
Since the 1982-83 season, 23 players have won the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award

#4 Sidney Moncrief - 2 NBA DPOY awards

Sidney Moncrief
Sidney Moncrief

Sidney Moncrief is a player who might be forgotten by many, but his career was impressive. He won the first two NBA Defensive Player of the Year awards as a shooting guard while playing for an underrated Milwaukee Bucks team in the 1980s.

Moncrief is one of five guards to win the NBA Defensive Player of the Year and is the only guard to win it more than once.

Moncrief is a Hall-of-Famer and received five All-Star, five All-NBA and five All-Defensive selections in his career.


#3 Dwight Howard - 3 NBA DPOY awards

Photo Credit: AP.
Photo Credit: AP.

Dwight Howard is the only player in NBA history to win the NBA Defensive Player of the Year award in three consecutive years.

The big man was the NBA's best defender during his prime with the Orlando Magic.

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With a dominant physique and his youth (he won his third NBA Defensive Player of the Year award at age 25), Howard was terrorizing opposing players and protecting the paint with supreme consistency.

His defensive prowess and overall game even helped the Magic reach the 2009 NBA Finals after defeating the Kevin Garnett-less Boston Celtics and LeBron James' Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Playoffs.


#2 Ben Wallace - 4 NBA DPOY awards

Detroit Pistons v Atlanta Hawks
Detroit Pistons v Atlanta Hawks

Ben Wallace is arguably the best undrafted player in NBA history. He left his mark in the game with his defensive intensity and winning traits.

Wallace led one of the greatest defenses in NBA history, the 2004 Detroit Pistons, and helped them win the 2004 NBA championship against a favored LA Lakers team with Shaquille O'Neal and Kobe Bryant.

Wallace won four NBA Defensive Player of the Year awards between 2002 and 2006, all with the Pistons.


#1 Dikembe Mutombo - 4 NBA DPOY awards

Dikembe Mutombo.
Dikembe Mutombo.

Dikembe Mutombo was another big man who is one of the premier shot-blockers in NBA history.

Accordingly, he won a record four NBA Defensive Player of the Year awards. He is first in this list because he was the first to reach four NBA DPOY trophies.

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Mutombo won his first NBA Defensive Player of the Year award with the Denver Nuggets in the 1994-95 NBA season. He then won it twice with the Atlanta Hawks, and his fourth one came with the Philadelphia 76ers in 2001.

Mutombo led the NBA in blocks per game three times, and the highest average of his career was 4.5 blocks a night in the 1995-96 season.


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